UC San Diego

Wisdom has been reported to be associated with better mental health and quality of life among older adults. Over the past decades, there has been considerable growth in empirical research on wisdom, including the development of standardized measures. The 39-item Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale (3D-WS) is a useful assessment tool, given its rigorous development and good psychometric properties. However, the measure's length can prohibit use. In this article, we used a sample of 1,546 community-dwelling adults aged 21 to 100 years (M = 66 years) from the Successful AGing Evaluation (SAGE) study to develop an abbreviated 12-item version of the 3D-WS: the 3D-WS-12. Balancing concerns for measurement precision, internal structure, and content validity, factor analytic methods and expert judgment were used to identify a subset of 12-items for the 3D-WS-12. Results suggest that the 3D-WS-12 can provide efficient and valid assessments of Wisdom within the context of epidemiological surveys.