The 9-item Interdependent Happiness Scale (IHS; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015) is a self-report of interpersonal happiness that focuses on relationship-oriented happiness, quiescent happiness, and ordinary happiness. Few studies have evaluated the psychometric properties of the IHS in diverse cultural backgrounds and the findings are inconsistent. This study investigated whether the IHS has sound psychometric qualities in three Asian countries. A sample of 812 university students from Malaysia (n = 263), Philippines (n = 239), and India (n = 310) answered the IHS and self-rated creativity scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the second-order structure in the three countries. The IHS showed good reliability and mixed results for construct validity tested using average variance extracted. Meanwhile, concurrent validity was established by showing a positive relationship with creativity score. Moreover, multi-group CFA was performed to test measurement invariance and supported metric and partial scalar invariance. Further analysis using ANCOVA showed that Malaysian participants reported significantly lower scores than their counterparts in the Philippines and India after controlling the impact of creativity. The findings not only shed light on the usefulness of the IHS for young adults in the three countries but also highlight the potential of employing the IHS to assess socially-oriented happiness in diverse cultural contexts. Limitations and applications are discussed.
