Abstract

In the process of studying human satisfaction in general and life satisfaction in particular, the most widely used is the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS), Subjective Well-Being (SWB), FACES II - The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale with a cognitive component (life satisfaction) and an affective component (positive and negative emotions or emotional balance). These commonly used scales provide strong evidence of acceptability, reliability, validity and invariance for gender, while there is mixed evidence of invariance by culture and age, as well as the roles of marital status and educational level. This review article proposes an experimental operationalization between marital status and the presence of children in the family. The aim is to deduce the relationships between the number of children and the individual satisfaction of the members of a married couple. Research has found scalar invariance by gender and educational level and partial scalar invariance by marital status, but there are no relationships between marital status and number of children.