Social and Economic Indicators of Psychological Symptoms and Life Satisfaction Among Dutch and Hong Kong Adolescents: A Cross-National HBSC Study

Abstract

Adolescent mental health and life satisfaction are grounded in social and economic factors. However, studies investigating these relations across European and Asian contexts, using identical questionnaires, are scarce. The 2017/18 Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted with 4,168 Dutch adolescents ( Mage 13.0 years) and 1,948 Hong Kong adolescents ( Mage 13.1 years) aged 11, 13, and 15 reported on family status and affluence, school experiences, relations with parents and friends, psychological symptoms (irritability/bad temper, feeling low or nervous, difficulty sleeping), and life satisfaction. Dutch boys had the lowest number of psychological symptoms. Dutch girls and Hong Kong girls and boys reported significantly more symptoms. Dutch boys had the highest level of life satisfaction, followed by Dutch girls and, subsequently, Hong Kong girls and boys. In the Netherlands and Hong Kong, communicative and supportive relationships with parents, low school pressure, school liking, and helpful fellow students related to less psychological symptoms and higher life satisfaction. In addition, family affluence further enhanced life satisfaction. It is concluded that cultural and gender differences may permeate the structuring of adolescent relations with parents, teachers, and peers but that an identical set of social and economic determinants affect adolescent girls’ and boys’ symptoms and satisfaction in a highly similar fashion in the Netherlands and Hong Kong.