[Study on the relationship among lifestyle, self-esteem and life satisfaction in Chinese adolescents].
OBJECTIVE
To explore the relationship between lifestyle, self-esteem and life satisfaction among Chinese adolescents.


METHODS
10 899 adolescents in middle schools and colleges from 9 provinces in China were investigated by using Chinese Adolescent Lifestyle Scale (CALS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES).


RESULTS
The distribution of adolescents in the four groups divided by lifestyle and life satisfaction scores were different regarding the area and grade of these students(chi(2)=248.93, P<0.01;chi(2)=568.53, P<0.01). A high percentage of adolescents in cities (58.9%) reported a healthy life style with high life satisfaction while most adolescents in rural areas (58.9%) reported poor life styles with little satisfaction. A high percentage of junior high school students (61.8%) reported a healthy life style with high life satisfaction, but this percentage among senior high school and college students was down to 48.5% and 21.3% respectively. About 7.6% of senior high school students reported a healthy life style but poor satisfaction, a little higher than that of junior high school students (4.1%) and college students (3.6%). Moreover, there were 71.6% college students reported that they lead a poor life style with little satisfaction. The lifestyle is significantly correlated with self-esteem (r=0.472, P<0.01) and life satisfaction(r=0.636, P<0.01), and self-esteem is also significantly correlated with life satisfaction (r=0.450, P<0.01). self-esteem was the mediator of the other two parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
The lifestyle predicts life satisfaction through self-esteem. Area and grade differences have to be taken into consideration when introducing programs on health promotion, and attention should be attached to the influence of psychological factors.
Li
Xiao-miao
XM
Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100101, China.
Zhang
Fang-fang
FF
Sun
Xin-ying
XY
Gao
Wen-bin
WB
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012424:Rural Population; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult