Subjective well-being in physical exercise practitioners: factor structure and invariance

Abstract

Subjective well-being (SWB) has been widely studied in general populations; however, few studies have evaluated aspects related to the internal structure of the instrument. Thus, the present research aimed to gather new psychometric evidence for operationalising the SWB in the context of physical exercise and test its invariance in different groups. The sample comprised 359 participants aged between 18 and 70 (M=36.6 SD=11.9; 67.7% female). The results obtained through confirmatory factor analysis indicated the adequacy of the three-factor model, with good accuracy rates. Furthermore, the invariance analysis suggested that the SWB is measured similarly among those who practice physical exercise in different ways (virtual and face-to-face) and individuals of different genders (female and male). The results contribute to the accumulation of validity evidence for the BES measure in the context of physical exercise.