The Evolution of Life Satisfaction Throughout Childhood and Adolescence: Differences in Young People’s Evaluations According to Age and Gender

Abstract

The level of life satisfaction perceived during childhood and adolescence is an excellent indicator of healthy psychological emotional development. The main aim of this work is to study the levels of life satisfaction perceived by young people throughout their childhood and adolescence. To this end, an innovative retrospective approach is adopted that shows how the evolution of life satisfaction is perceived at different ages according to gender. The present study is based on a sample of 600 Spanish adolescents (58.1% girls; mean age = 16.64) who report the evolution of their life satisfaction from 6 years to 18, through the Life Satisfaction Chart (LSCh). The Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale (GADS) is also administered to record levels of anxiety and depression. The results indicate no gender differences in terms of life satisfaction during childhood. Levels of life satisfaction are significantly higher in childhood than in pre-adolescence and adolescence and a significant decrease in levels appearing towards the age of 11. As for gender, significant differences in life satisfaction appear from the age of 12, with girls being significantly more dissatisfied, more depressed and more anxious than boys. Current levels of anxiety and depression do not appear to interfere with retrospectively reported levels of life satisfaction throughout the developmental years studied, except among the female population, where minimal interference is detected. Life satisfaction retrospectively reported by young people shows a significant decrease after the age of 11 years, with greater emotional and psychological vulnerability after this age, mainly and notably among girls. The present results highlight the importance of psychological/affective care in the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages, especially among the female population.

Social emotional health, life satisfaction and school climate of junior school students in the context of Covid-19 pandemic crisis: Longitudinal research in Lithuania

“…From the perspective of positive psychology, children's strong sides, which interact with each other, positively correlate Lithuanian students during the Covid-19 pandemic and adolescence. The present results highlight the importance of psychological/affective care in the pre-adolescent age (Aymerich et al, 2021).…”

The role of family support and conflict in cyberbullying and subjective well-being among Chilean adolescents during the Covid-19 period

“…Some studies indicate that there are no differences in the levels of well-being associated with gender, while others state that in general are more likely to show lower levels of well-being and life satisfaction ( Atienza-González et al., 2020 ; Kaye-Tzadok et al., 2017 ). These differences have been shown to be more marked as adolescence progresses ( Aymerich et al., 2021 ).…”

Cross‐national and longitudinal evidence for a rapid decline in life satisfaction in adolescence

“…Considering these trends, it is perhaps surprising that evidence is mixed on whether life satisfaction shows an increasing, decreasing, or stable trend throughout adolescence. A declining-with-age trend is perhaps the dominant finding in the literature, and has been reported in early cross-sectional studies from Israel (Ullman & Tatar, 2001), South Korea (Park, 2005), Romania and Spain (Casas et al, 2013), and Germany (Goldbeck et al, 2007) and recent longitudinal studies from Spain (Aymerich et al, 2021;González-Carrasco et al, 2017, Hong Kong (Shek & Liang, 2018), and Algeria (Tiliouine et al, 2019). However, a cross-sectional study in the United States did not find a change in life satisfaction across grades 9-12 (Huebner et al, 2004).…”

“…A longitudinal study from Hong Kong found that males experienced a faster decline in life satisfaction than females in adolescence (Shek & Liang, 2018). In contrast, it has been suggested that biological (e.g., hormonal influences) and sociocultural influences (e.g., gender standards, expectations and stereotypes) may lead to a greater emotional vulnerability and more rapid decline in life satisfaction among girls than boys (Aymerich et al, 2021; Goldbeck et al, 2007). Recent longitudinal studies of Spanish adolescents (Aymerich et al, 2021; González‐Carrasco et al, 2020) have found that females experience sharper decreases in life satisfaction throughout adolescence than males.…”