Life satisfaction and mental health from age 17 to 21 years in a general population sample

Abstract

Adolescence is a period when both mental health (MH) and wellbeing start deteriorating, which raises the question of how the two phenomena are linked and whether deterioration in one might be used to flag problematic developments in the other. While research shows that wellbeing and MH are associated, the direction of the association is not clear and longitudinal analyses, that might help disentangle the cause and effect, are scarce. Moreover, few studies have investigated the directional relation between MH and wellbeing early in the life course. In emerging adulthood, evidence indicates reciprocal associations and no gender differences, whereas, in early and middle adolescence, results are mixed and differ across gender. Thus, we investigated the relationship between MH and wellbeing and the moderating effect of gender in the crucial developmental transition from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. We undertake a cross-lagged longitudinal data analysis from a pooled sample of six pseudo-cohorts, including information from 661 young people who participated in the UK Household Longitudinal Study at ages 17, 19, and 21. Using a 7-points overall life satisfaction (LS) scale as an index of wellbeing and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire as a measure of MH, we found no associations between LS and MH in the 17–19 transition and bidirectional associations in the 19–21 transition. There were no substantial gender differences in either transition. We conclude that LS and MH predict each other in the transition from late adolescence (age 19) to emerging adulthood (age 21) for both males and females.

Satisfied with Life? The Protective Function of Life Satisfaction in the Relationship between Perceived Stress and Negative Mental Health Outcomes

“…Thus, even in the absence of stress, life satisfaction positively impacts negative mental health. This result supports prior research reporting a negative relationship between life satisfaction and mental health [ 7 , 8 , 44 ]. Given that the current study is cross-sectional in nature, it is equally plausible that a high level of negative mental health might impact one’s level of life satisfaction.…”

“…Mental health problems constitute a salient category of predictors of life satisfaction [ 8 ]. The COVID-19 outbreak and the measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus have significantly disrupted daily life and contributed to significant psychological distress for many individuals.…”

What Matters for Life Satisfaction of University Students: the Role of Social Capital and Self-efficacy?

“…University students must strike a balance between their personal expectations and those of others (friends and family) and have to attempt to discover themselves. During this period of discovery, there may be ups and downs as they adapt to shifting environments and conditions such as living place (BABAYİĞİT, 2019;Marquez et al, 2022). Accordingly, students at universities are increasingly recognized as a vulnerable demographic population (Browning et al, 2021).…”

Geographic, Socio-Demographic and School Type Variation in Adolescent Wellbeing and Mental Health and Links with Academic Competence in the United Arab Emirates

“…For instance, Buckner ( 2018 ) found that low-income Emirati nationals had worse academic performance on the 2015 and 2018 PISA exams (OECD, 2019 ) than their higher income peers, with the influence of SES on academic achievement stronger in the UAE than elsewhere. In addition to the three-year private–public academic performance gap (Marquez et al, 2022a , b , c ), there is also a gender gap. Nationally, girls have outperformed boys in all PISA subjects since 2012 and this gap is also larger than anywhere else (OECD, 2019 ).…”

“…Evidence indicates that most lifetime cases of mental ill health manifest by the age of 24, with a peak age of onset of 14.5 years (Colizzi et al, 2020;Solmi et al, 2021). Further evidence indicates that wellbeing in adolescence is predictive of adult wellbeing, mental health, physical health and health behaviour, relational, as well as labour market and socioeconomic outcomes (Cavioni et al, 2021;DeNeve & Oswald, 2012;Goodman et al, 2015;Guzmán et al, 2020;Kansky et al, 2016;Marquez et al, 2022a;Richards & Huppert, 2011). Research on the absence of a trade-off between wellbeing and academic outcome (Gutman & Vorhaus, 2012;Lindorff, 2021;Shoshani et al, 2016) has also helped advanced wellbeing promotion agendas in school contexts.…”