Measuring the affective quality of life of university students: The validation of an instrument

The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument for measuring the quality of life of university students, and to report its validity and reliability. The study used a representative sample of undergraduate and graduate students in the faculty of education at a major Canadian university. The construct validity of the scales was assessed by Piazza's technique for the analysis of attitude items. The findings supported conceptualizing the quality of life of university students in four dimensions including Positive Affect, Interaction with Students, Interaction with Professors, and Negative Affect. The alpha reliabilities of these scales ranged from 0.75 to 0.93. Some potential applications of this instrument for understanding educational attainment, as well as for the evaluation of university departments and faculties, are mentioned.