Abstract
(1) Aims: To explore temporal trends 2010–2018 of well-being among Italian adolescents and to evaluate potential explanatory factors. (2) Methods: Italian nationality representative samples of students aged 11, 13, and 15 years were recruited in 2010, 2014, and 2018; Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), for an overall number of 165,000 teenagers. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to fit the trends over time of life satisfaction (LS), psychological (PSY-HC) and somatic health complaints (SOM-HC) considering the contextual factors: school work pressure, social support (family, school, peers), socioeconomic status, geographic area, and immigration background; (3) Results: From 2010 to 2018 while LS was steady, health complaints increased, mainly for PSY-HC, in all age and gender groups. Trend of PSY-HC affected mainly 15-years-olds: rates among boys varied from 29.6% to 35.9% (OR: 1.13, 95%CI: 1.02–1.25); among girls from 49.1% to 63.3% (OR: 1.56, 95%CI: 1.42–1.72). High school work pressure and poor social support play a central role in worsening well-being outcomes; (4) Conclusions: Our findings pictured a remarkable worsening trend of teenagers’ well-being, especially among 15-year-old girls. Further research will be required to investigate this breaking up of the connection between psychophysical symptomatology and cognitive perception of life satisfaction.
Highlights
In contrast to PSY-Health Complaints (HC), we found a slight worsening in somatic health complaints (SOM-HC), which achieved statistical significance among older females
Our data showed that older adolescents have a higher vulnerability to mental health problems than the youngers, and this difference increases across years, as in Potrebny [20]
In agreement with a Scottish study among 13- and 15-year olds [60], we found that those from two-parent families had higher life satisfaction and fewer health complaints compared to adolescents from nontraditional families
Summary
In the 20th century, the concept of health evolved to include the notion of well-being: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, psychological, and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease and infirmity [1]. In the last 20 years, mental health has become central for its impact on public health: 1996 WHO projections indicated that by 2020 depression would be the second leading cause of illness, emphasizing adolescence as a fundamental period in forming the features of adult mental health [3,4,5,6,7,8].
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