What makes for a good life according to young teens?
CHE RESEARCH BITES
By Maame Esi Woode and Gang Chen
19 March, 2024
Understanding what young people see as important to their wellbeing has implications for their life and those of future generations.
Life satisfaction is influenced by various aspects of our lives or “life domains” and the relative importance people place on these different life domains varies over the life span. Poor life satisfaction in early life has long-term and profound consequences that last into adulthood and also impact future generations. Measuring what life domains are important to young people and how much they contribute to their overall life satisfaction can help identify areas of priority for policy interventions.
Using data collected between 2013 and 2014 and between 2016 and 2019 as part of the International Survey of Children’s Well-being study, we examined answers to life satisfaction questionnaires from over 45,000 adolescents aged 10 and 12 living in England, Israel, Romania, Norway, Malta, Nepal, Estonia, Ethiopia, South Korea and Germany. We investigated the influence of 14 life domains on global life satisfaction.
Among these life domains, health was the most important for 10-year olds living in lower-income countries. Whilst safety, followed by possessions were most important for those living in high-income countries, relationships and community ranked very low, regardless of their country’s level of economic development.
In the 12-year old group, possessions topped the list of most important life domains, followed by safety in both high and lower-income countries. They differed, however in what they valued the least: teens from lower-income countries ranked their future last, while those from high-income countries saw how they used their time as least important. Preferences followed a gender divide: girls valued their safety as highly important and boys their possessions. Priority areas for improvement across both age groups included freedom and future for most of the countries.
Despite material wellbeing and safety ranking as most important for overall life satisfaction, what matters most to young teens varies across countries. Policies aiming to enhance the wellbeing of young adolescents cannot be a one-size fits-all policy, neither across nor within countries.
Find the original article here: Woode, M. E., & Chen, G. (2024). The Relative Importance and Performance of Key Life Domains on Global Life Satisfaction in Early Adolescents. Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, S1098-3015(24)00082-2. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2024.02.010
Find out more about the Disadvantage and health and Economic behaviour, incentives and preferences in health research themes and the project related to this research.
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