Measuring Well-Being With the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale - Student Form Validation of a 9-and a 3-Item Measure of Student Engagement

Our study introduces a 9-item and an ultra-short 3-item version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale - Student Form (UVVES-SF). Using data from German university students (N = 2,620), our aim was to validate the factorial structure of the UWES-9-SF and to investigate the reliability and validity of an ultra-short measure - the UWES-3-SF. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) confirmed the three-factor structure of the 9-item version (CFI = .95: SRMR = .033, RMSEA = .088), the internal consistencies of the sub-scales were satisfactory. The ultra-short version with three items (one of each dimension) also proved to be a reliable indicator of student engagement with a Cronbach's alpha of .86. Construct validity with similar and opposite constructs (burnout, satisfaction with life, subjective health, depressive symptoms, challenging study demands) was successfully proven for both measures as well as for the sub-scales of the UVVES-9-SF. The German short and ultra-short versions of the UWES-SF with nine and three items, respectively, are valid and reliable measures to assess student engagement.