Self-essentialist beliefs and well-being among Dutch university students: psychometric properties and gender differences.

This study investigates the relationship between self-essentialist beliefs and well-being among Dutch college students, while also assessing the psychometric properties of the measures used in the study, as well as examining potential gender differences. To begin, we will evaluate the psychometric properties of the instruments used in this study, including three widely used well-being scales—the Questionnaire of Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB; Waterman et al., 2010), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al., 1985), and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS; Ryff & Keyes, 1995)—as well as the Self-Essentialist Beliefs Scale (SEBS; Christy et al., 2019), which has not yet been validated in the Netherlands. For all four scales, we will examine factor structures using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), assess reliability, and evaluate potential floor and ceiling effects. In addition, measurement invariance across gender will be tested using multigroup CFA, followed by analyses of gender-based mean differences. Finally, we will investigate how self-essentialist beliefs relate to well-being and whether these associations differ between male and female students. By integrating these different analyses, this study will provide a clearer and more reliable understanding of the relationship between well-being and self-essentialist beliefs among Dutch college students. Through establishing solid psychometric properties and examining potential gender differences/moderation, this study deepens our understanding of both the assessment of these constructs and the ways in which their relationship may differ for male and female students.