Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak represented an experience of social isolation potentially leading to changes in the health quality of life. The aim of this study is to investigate the health-related quality of life during quarantine in early adolescents. Data were collected from 1,289 adolescents (mean age, 12.5; male, 622), at the beginning of the school year (September 2019, Standard Condition, SC) as part of the AVATAR project and during Phase 1 of the Italian lockdown (mid-late April 2020) (COVID-19 Quarantine, CQ) using an online questionnaire. In the CQ period, with respect to SC, adolescents showed lower perception in the dimensions, such as psychological (p = 0.001), physical well-being (p = 0.001), mood/emotion (p = 0.008), autonomy (p = 0.001), and financial resources (p = 0.018). Relationship with the family (p = 0.021) and peers (p = 0.001), as well as the perception of bullying (p = 0.001) were reduced. In lifestyle, adolescents developed higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (p = 0.001). Adolescents living in the village had greater reduction in both autonomy (p = 0.002) and peer relationships (p = 0.002). Moreover, the perception of physical well-being was lower in those living in the city instead of those living in the countryside (p = 0.03), in an apartment instead of a detached house (p = 0.002), and in those who did not have green space (p = 0.001). Gender effect emerged for the psychological (p = 0.007) and physical well-being (p = 0.001), mood/emotion (p = 0.001), and self-perception (p = 0.001). The study showed that health-related quality of life during quarantine changed in its psychosocial dimensions, from mood and self-esteem to social relationships, helping to define the educational policies at multiple points in the promotion process of health.

Adolescence is not only typically considered a time of good health but also characterized by an emergence of risk factors that may have long-term consequences for wellbeing that represents strong predictors of adverse health outcomes. The aim of the study is to assess adolescence well-being through the development of an integrated Well-Being Index (WBI) including variables of lifestyle habits, social context, emotional status, and mental skills. One thousand two hundred forty-eight healthy adolescents (Female 48%; Male 52%; mean age 13 years) were recruited from five Italian junior high schools, by KIDSCREEN-52 and cognitive processing using the Stroop Test. School performance was estimated by questions concerning the scholastic achievement. Social context was the most important predictor of perceived well-being (β = 0.972, SE = 0.014, p < 0.0001), with parent relation (p < 0.0001) as the most observed variable. Subsequently, WBI was strongly represented by lifestyle habits (β = 0.954, SE = 0.017, p < 0.000) with autonomy (p < 0.0001), and emotional status (β = 0.949, SE = 0.017, p < 0.000) with psychological well-being perception (p < 0.0001). Finally, mental skills (β = −0.1417, SE = 0.031, p < 0.0.00) was the least important predictor for the WBI index (p < 0.0001). Personalised (P) WBI was obtained by the sum of each centered and scaled WBI variable, weighted by the corresponding ratio between factor loading and residual variance. Social context was the more important predictor of WBI, followed by lifestyle, emotional factors, and lastly mental skills. PWBI provides an integrated and personalized perspective of adolescents' well-being, on the basis of a cooperation between school, family, and community with the common intent to promote and protect adolescent health.

Background: Limited number of studies examined the relationship between factors (lifestyle, social, emotional, cognitive) affecting adolescents' health and well-being. The aims of this study were to identify the more important variables of the different components affecting adolescents' health [lifestyle habits (LH); emotional status (ES); social context (SC); and cognitive abilities (CA)], and explore the relationship between the aforementioned components. Methods: Data were collected between 2017 and 2018 from 756 eligible students, recruited from 5 Italian junior high school, by using KIDSCREEN-52 and cognitive processing using the Stroop Test. School engagement was estimated through questions concerning the scholastic achievement. Results: Of 756 adolescents, 395 were boys with a mean (SD) age of 12.19 (0.81) years. Compared to International T-value of reference group for KIDSCREEN-52, autonomy, bullying, psychological well-being and mood were lower than the reference groups, while self-perception score was higher. For LH, the most important predictor was autonomy (p < .0001). The most important aspects in the SC were the relationship with the parents (p < .0001), and the adolescent's relationships with peers (p < .0001). For ES, mood variables had the greatest contribution (p < .0001). The School performance related to Language & Literature (p < .0001) was the most important predictor in the CA latent variable. LH was positively associated with SC (p < .0001), ES (p < .0001), and CA (p < .0001). SC was positively associated with ES (p < .0001) and with CA (p < .0001). Conclusions: This study suggests the importance of an integrated approach to characterize adolescents' health and well-being. The approach suggested here may highlight additive synergistic effects of the various components in health and well-being assessment that may not be considered with a late approach and focused only on single factors.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an extraordinary and naturalistic context to observe young people’s psychosocial profiles and to study how a condition of environmental deprivation and lack of direct social contact, affects the well-being and health status of adolescents. The study explored whether the COVID-19 outbreak changes, in the short term, the acute well-being perception in adolescents, as measured by a Personalized Well-Being Index (PWBI) and the four components affecting health (i.e., lifestyle habits, social context, emotional status, mental skills), in a sample of early adolescent students. Data from 10 schools were collected on 1019 adolescents (males 48.3%, mean age 12.53 ± 1.25 y). Measurements were obtained at two time points, in September/October 2019, (baseline condition, BC) as part of the “A new purpose for promotion and eVAluation of healTh and well-being Among healthy teenageRs” (AVATAR) project and during the Italian Lockdown Phase (mid–late April 2020, LP), with the same students using an online questionnaire. During COVID-19 quarantine, adolescents showed a lower PWBI (p < 0.001) as compared to the BC. Considering the four health-related well-being components, lifestyle habits (p < 0.001), social context (p < 0.001), and emotional status (p < 0.001), showed significantly lower values during LP than BC. However, mental skills, in LP, displayed a significant increase as compared to BC (p < 0.001). In this study, we have provided data on the personalized well-being index and the different components affecting health in adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown, showing a general decrease in well-being perception, expressed in lifestyle habits, social, and emotional components, demonstrating detrimental effects in the first phase of quarantine on adolescents’ psychosocial profiles. Our results shed new light on adolescence as a crucial period of risk behavior, especially when social support is lacking.