Satisfaction With Life

I came across the following mini-scale while looking at some of the questionnaires I am working with in one of our projects. I know how much my friends, at least the female ones, love quizzes and I am curious if anyone else has the same response to this that I did.

Satisfaction With Life Scale
Diener, E., Emmons, R., Larsen, J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. J Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75.

Below are five statements with which you may agree or disagree. Using the 1-7 scale below, indicate your agreement with each item by placing the appropriate number on the line preceding that item. Please be open and honest in your responding. The 7-point scale is as follows:

1 = strongly disagree
2 = disagree
3 = slightly disagree
4 = neither agree nor disagree
5 = slightly agree
6 = agree
7 = strongly agree

__ 1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

__ 2. The conditions of my life are excellent.

__ 3. I am satisfied with my life.

__ 4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life.

__ 5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.


I don't know what your answers mean, because we are using this scale on a very specific population. So I don't know what "normal" is. I am going to try and look it up, but it doesn't really matter. I think all that mattered to me was the sense that seeing these very pointed questions made me do a double take and pause a moment to think about my life and whether I have gotten the important things I want, and if I would change my life if I could live it over again. I'd love to hear other people's responses.