High-School Satisfaction Scale (H-Sat Scale): Evaluation of Contextual Satisfaction in Relation to High-School Students’ Life Satisfaction

Recent literature on positive psychology underlines the crucial role of schools to create
a psychologically healthy environment and to set programs and strategies fostering adolescents’
well-being. The aim of the present study is to validate a scale that measures scholastic satisfaction
since a scientific evaluation and interventions on school satisfaction can help professionals to support
adolescents’ positive development and school adjustment. We adapted the College Satisfaction
Scale (CSS) and confirmed the previous five-dimensional structure also in a high school students’
sample (n = 792). The High-school Satisfaction Scale (H-Sat Scale) evaluates five dimensions of
school satisfaction: appropriateness of choice (CH), quality of school services (SE), relationships
with classmates (RE), eectiveness of study habits (ST) and usefulness for a future career (CA).
The questionnaire consists of 20 items; it showed good psychometric features and, consistent with
previous literature, confirmed its validity in relation to life satisfaction and quality of life of high
school students. Compared with previous scales, the H-Sat evaluates two innovative areas of school
satisfaction since it gives a measure of satisfaction in career path (appropriateness of choice and
usefulness for future career) could help school counsellors to set interventions in this field.