Adolescent health-related quality of life and perceived satisfaction with life.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between perceived satisfaction with life and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a state-wide sample of 13-18-year-old adolescents (n = 4914) in South Carolina, USA.


METHODS
Questions were added to the self-report Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) asking about perceived life satisfaction in six domains (self, family, friends, living environment, school, and overall) and HRQOL (self-rated health; and the number of poor physical health days, poor mental days, and activity limitation days during the past 30 days).


RESULTS
Adjusted logistic regression analyses and multivariate models constructed separately revealed that self-rated health, poor physical days (past 30 days), poor mental health days (past 30 days), and activity limitation days (past 30 days) were significantly related (p < 0.05) to reduced life satisfaction, regardless of race or gender. Moreover, as the number of reported poor health days increased, the greater the odds of reporting life dissatisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to document the relationship between poor physical health and perceived life satisfaction. This adds to the mounting evidence that life satisfaction is related to a variety of adolescent health behaviors and that life satisfaction may add additional information in longitudinal databases that track adolescent health because it appears to be related to HRQOL.
Zullig
Keith J
KJ
Department of Physical Education, Health, and Sport Studies, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA. Zulligkj@muohio.edu
Valois
Robert F
RF
Huebner
E Scott
ES
Drane
J Wanzer
JW
D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012574:Schools; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013022:South Carolina; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires