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Subjective Well-Being in Early Adolescence: Observations from a Five-Year Longitudinal Study

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  • Mònica González-Carrasco

    (Research Group on Childhood, Adolescence, Children’s Rights and their Quality of Life, Research Institute on Quality of Life, University of Girona, Pujada de Sant Domènec, 9, 17004 Girona, Spain)

  • Marc Sáez

    (Research Group on Statistics, Econometrics and Health. (GRECS), University of Girona and CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Carrer de la Universitat de Girona 10, Campus de Montilivi, 17003 Girona, Spain)

  • Ferran Casas

    (Research Group on Childhood, Adolescence, Children’s Rights and their Quality of Life, Research Institute on Quality of Life, University of Girona, Pujada de Sant Domènec, 9, 17004 Girona, Spain)

Abstract

This article aims to redress the lack of longitudinal studies on adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) and highlight the relevance of knowledge deriving from such research in designing public policies for improving their health and wellbeing in accordance with the stage of development they are in. To achieve this, the evolution of SWB during early adolescence (in adolescents aged between 10 and 14 in the first data collection) was explored over a five year period, considering boys and girls together and separately. This involved comparing different SWB scales and contrasting results when considering the year of data collection versus the cohort (year of birth) participants belonged to. The methodology comprised a generalized linear mixed model using the INLA (Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation) estimation within a Bayesian framework. Results support the existence of a decreasing-with-age trend, which has been previously intuited in cross-sectional studies and observed in only a few longitudinal studies and contrasts with the increasing-with-age tendency observed in late adolescence. This decrease is also found to be more pronounced for girls, with relevant differences found between instruments. The decreasing-with-age trend observed when the year of data collection is taken into account is also observed when considering the cohort, but the latter provides additional information. The results obtained suggest that there is a need to continue studying the evolution of SWB in early adolescence with samples from other cultures; this, in turn, will make it possible to establish the extent to which the observed decreasing-with-age trend among early adolescents is influenced by cultural factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Mònica González-Carrasco & Marc Sáez & Ferran Casas, 2020. "Subjective Well-Being in Early Adolescence: Observations from a Five-Year Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:8249-:d:441774
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    10. Ferran Casas & Mònica González-Carrasco, 2020. "The Evolution of Positive and Negative Affect in a Longitudinal Sample of Children and Adolescents," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(5), pages 1503-1521, October.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hong Shi & Hanfang Zhao & Zheng Ren & Minfu He & Yuyu Li & Yajiao Pu & Xiangrong Li & Shixun Wang & Li Cui & Jieyu Zhao & Hongjian Liu & Xiumin Zhang, 2022. "Factors Associated with Subjective Well-Being of Chinese Adolescents Aged 10–15: Based on China Family Panel Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-15, June.
    3. Sara Filipiak & Beata Łubianka, 2021. "On the Rocky Road to Independence: Big Five Personality Traits and Locus of Control in Polish Primary School Students during Transition into Early Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-20, April.

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