Cross-Country and Gender Differences in Factors Associated with Population-Level Declines in Adolescent Life Satisfaction

Jose Marquez,Emily Long,Joanna Inchley

doi:10.1007/s12187-022-09930-8

Jose Marquez, Emily Long + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-022-09930-8

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Abstract

Adolescent subjective well-being, including life satisfaction, has shown declines at national level across many countries in recent years. Although several possible explanatory factors have been identified, there is a lack of research on whether these may be similar or different across countries. Using data on 15-year-old adolescents from the Programme for International Student Assessment study in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the United States, Japan, Ireland and France in 2015 and 2018, we find that changes in school well-being and, to a lesser extent, the use of Information and Communication Technologies and material well-being were associated with observed declines in life satisfaction. Although there are similarities across some countries, cross-country differences in factors associated with decreasing life satisfaction emerged, notably between Western nations and Japan, with some gender differences also evident.

Highlights

There is an increasing body of research reporting population-level declines in subjective well-being and an increases in mental health problems among children and young people - among females- observed over the last two decades in multiple countries (Curtin et al, 2016; Kim & Hagquist, 2018; Marquez & Long, 2020; Mishina et al, 2018; Mojtabai et al, 2016; The Children’s Society, 2020; Twenge et al, 2017, 2018)
More detailed information by country, gender and item is provided in Tables A2.1 to A2.3 in Appendix 2 and Tables A3.1. to A3.3 in Appendix 3
Parental support in relation to school decreased for boys and girls in all countries and this decrease was more accentuated among boys

Summary

Introduction

There is an increasing body of research reporting population-level declines in subjective well-being and an increases in mental health problems among children and young people - among females- observed over the last two decades in multiple countries (Curtin et al, 2016; Kim & Hagquist, 2018; Marquez & Long, 2020; Mishina et al, 2018; Mojtabai et al, 2016; The Children’s Society, 2020; Twenge et al, 2017, 2018). The present study investigates factors associated with population-level declines in 15-year-old adolescents’ subjective well-being -overall life satisfaction (LS)- with a focus on differences across gender and countries. We focus on LS, which is the most common indicator used by researchers to study subjective well-being in adolescents (Proctor et al, 2009). We present an overview of research studying a deterioration in subjective well-being (including LS) and positive mental health in young people

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