Multidimensional/Multisystems/Multinature Indicators of Quality of Life: Cross-Cultural Evidence from Mexico and Spain

The aim of this study is to provide cross-cultural empirical support that endorses the scientific nature of Quality of Life (QoL), which a review of definitions reveals as a nomothetic and multidimensional concept (personal and environmental circumstances), made up of a set of subjective and objective indicators. Although this is commonly accepted, many instruments and authors reduce it to subjective and personal conditions. Bearing in mind the aim described, multi-group Structural Equation Modelling analysis was applied to two representative samples made up of 1217 participants aged over 60 from Mexico and Spain, recruited both at random (through the random route procedure), who completed the CUBRECAVI (Brief Questionnaire of Quality of Life). In this model two third-order latent variables are considered for QoL: personal and external factors, both made up of objective and subjective indicators. As predicted, the results permit us to state that the structural model is invariant across the two countries—that is, although the QoL construct has the same structure in the two countries, the importance of the indicators (factor loadings) and the relationships between them are not equivalent.