This variety in the assessment of happiness, especially when investigating the
friendship-happiness link or testing a mediational model that involves friendship experiences,
might raise some concerns to the investigator. For instance, does the association
between friendship variables and happiness vary depending on the happiness measure
used? Would the proposed models be supported regardless of the way happiness is
assessed? Knowing that the measures that are commonly utilized in the empirical literature
to assess happiness (cognitive dimension, affective dimension, and subjective happiness)
are moderately related to each other (e.g., Howell et al. 2010; Lyubomirsky and Lepper
1999; Pavot and Diener 2008) does not necessarily address this concern. This is because of
the arguments supported with empirical evidence showing that the associations of close
relationships constructs (e.g., intimacy, overall quality) and happiness vary depending on
the measure used to assess happiness (Demir 2010; Saphire-Bernstein and Taylor in press;
Walen and Lachman 2000).