The third Wave Children’s Worlds dataset included data obtained from four self-reported well-being multi-item psychometric scales. Three of these were new improved versions of scales used in the second wave and the fourth had not been previously tested for reliability or comparability. The four scales were administered to children in the 10-year-olds age group in 35 countries and in the 12-year-olds age group in 30 countries. Many of these countries were not involved in the second wave. Consequently, the fit for all of these scales needs to be checked and its comparability among the new set of countries analysed. Based on our analysis, there can be no doubt that the most advisable psychometric scale for use in international comparisons is the 5-item version of the context-free subjective well-being scale for both the 10 and 12yo groups, because it displays metric invariance. Scalar invariance for this scale is only supported with a semi-partial constraint, because its item number 4 (Things in my life are excellent) seems to be very sensitive to the socio-economic level of the country, and generally tends to explain less variance than any other. Therefore, great caution must be used when comparing mean scores for this scale across countries. Items on the other three scales would appear to have different cultural meanings, depending on the country, as they do not display metric or scalar invariance across countries. However, the positive and negative affects scale deserves special attention, because the in-country correlation between its two components displays an interesting diversity between countries, probably due to cultural factors that should be further explored. Although statistics obtained using the overall index for any of these three scales cannot be meaningfully compared across countries, their fit is excellent and their use is deemed appropriate for in-country analysis. Further exploration is needed to test whether non-comparability is an issue with only some specific items, and whether they are comparable between some of the countries and not others.

第三个Wave儿童世界数据集包括从四个自我报告的幸福多项目心理测验量表获得的数据。其中三个是第二波使用的新的磅秤改进版本，而第四波以前未经过过可靠性或可比性测试。在35个国家的10岁年龄段儿童和30个国家的12岁年龄段儿童中使用了这四个量表。这些国家中有许多未参与第二轮浪潮。因此，需要检查所有这些量表的适用性，并分析其在新的国家之间的可比性。根据我们的分析，毫无疑问，在国际比较中使用的最合适的心理测验量表是针对10岁和12岁年龄组的无背景主观幸福感量表的5个项目，因为它显示了度量不变性。此标度的标量不变性仅受半部分约束支持，因为其项目号4（我一生中的事情都很棒）似乎对国家的社会经济水平非常敏感，通常比其他任何原因都可以解释较少的差异。因此，在各国之间比较该量表的平均得分时，必须格外谨慎。根据国家/地区的不同，其他三个量表上的项目似乎具有不同的文化含义，因为它们在各个国家/地区中均不显示度量或标量不变性。但是，正面和负面影响范围值得特别关注，因为其两个组成部分之间的国内相关性在国家之间显示出有趣的多样性，这可能是由于文化因素需要进一步探讨。尽管无法使用这三个量表中的任何一个的总体指数获得的统计数据在各个国家之间都无法进行有意义的比较，它们的适应性极好，并且被认为适合进行国内分析。需要进一步探索以检验不可比性是否仅是某些特定项目的问题，以及它们在某些国家之间是否具有可比性，而在其他国家之间是否具有可比性。