Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire in a Sample of the Iranian Military

The psychological health and well-being of military personnel affect their performance at the individual and national levels. One of the variables that can affect mental health and improve the quality of life of military personnel is happiness. In order to assess the level of military happiness or to evaluate the related educational and medical interventions, standardized tools are needed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire in the military.

This study was a descriptive methodological study. For this purpose, three military units in Tehran were selected by available sampling. Then 403 servicemen were selected by available sampling and completed the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, NEO Personality Questionnaire (60-NEO) and the researcher-made demographic questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlation by SPSS-22 and Amos-22 software.

The results of exploratory data analysis showed that the Persian version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire in the military has a four-factor structure (life satisfaction, welfare, sociality, control and self-efficacy). Together, these four factors accounted for 41% of the variance in happiness. These factors were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (RAMSEA = 064, CFI = 0.91, FIF = 0.92). The face validity of the test was also confirmed. The results of convergent validity showed that all sub-components and total score of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (r = 0.56, P <0.001) and Neo Personality Questionnaire (extroversion subscale) had a positive and significant correlation (r = 0.59, P <0.001). Divergent validity was also confirmed through a significant negative correlation between the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the Neo Personality Questionnaire (Neuroticism subscale) (r = -0.61, P <0.001). The reliability results of the questionnaire with the test-retest method during two weeks (0.79-0.82) and internal consistency with Cronbachchr('39')s alpha (0.84) showed the time reliability and good internal consistency of this instrument.

The findings of the present study showed that the Persian version of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire in the military has good validity and reliability and can be used to measure happiness and psychological studies in the military.