Health and happiness in adolescence: individual and social factors associated with the perceptions of health and happiness in portuguese adolescents

Abstract

Perceptions of health and happiness are generally associated. Several personal and social factors influence these perceptions. Since adolescence is a critical period in health chronology it is important to analyze which factors influence the adolescent’s health and well-being. To analyze the relations between health and happiness as well as the factors allied to each of these features, we developed an explanatory model. The data used in this study are part of a cross-national research study Health Behaviours in School-aged Children conducted by the “Social Adventure” team from the Faculty of Human Kinetics in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe (n=6131). The data were collected through self-completion questionnaires. Descriptive analyses as well as multivariate analyses were conducted, namely structural equations modeling. The results showed a positive relation between the perceptions of health and happiness. It was also possible to verify that there are several personal and social features associated to these perceptions. Personal features have more impact on health perception while social features have more impact on happiness perception. The importance of these findings for the intervention with adolescents is discussed.