MEASURING SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING - UNFOLDING THE BRADBURN AFFECT BALANCE SCALE

Factor analysis of the items in the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale has repeatedly shown that the positive and negative affect items are unrel ated. Despite this, negative affect scores are routinely subtracted fr om positive affect scores to derive Affect Balance Scale Scores that a pparently provide a valid measure of a sense of well-being. In this pa per we offer a resolution to this paradox - and so justify the use of Affect Balance Scale Scores - by showing that the positive and negativ e affect items each form a single cumulative scale, and that the two c umulative scales taken together form one unidimensional unfolding scal e. This explanation is based on a hypothesis by Coombs and Kao (1960) - later proved mathematically by Ross and Cliff (1964) - that when dat a that are unfoldable in r dimensions are factor-analyzed, r + 1 signi ficant factors will be found. In an empirical test, Bradburn Affect Ba lance Scale data collected from ten countries in the 1981 and 1990 Eur opean Values Study surveys were analyzed. The results clearly support the hypothesis that the data form a single unidimensional unfolding sc ale, although two of the ten Affect Balance Scale items are not homoge nous with the rest.