title: Trends in life satisfaction in European and North-American adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in over 30 countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Life satisfaction (LS) is an indicator which is widely used for assessing the perception of a child's feeling about his life.
  
  
  METHODS
  LS is assessed in Health Behaviour in School-aged Children via the Cantril ladder with 10 steps indicating the worst and best possible life. This range of values (0-10) was dichotomized into 'low' (0-5) vs. 'high' (6-10). Countries, age groups and genders were compared based on the odds ratio (OR) of declaring a higher LS in 2010 with respect to 2002.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyzing the difference between 2002 and 2010, six countries from Western Europe show decreasing LS: Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Greenland. In contrast, a group of Eastern European Countries, that is, Estonia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine, show a significant increase in LS. Data on gender and age differences confirm the lower rating of LS in girls and a decreasing rating with age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The LS scale appears to be a tool capable of discriminating the level of wellbeing of adolescent population among countries.
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy franco.cavallo@unito.it.
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: Cavallo
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Paola
authors: P
authors: Dalmasso
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Veronika
authors: V
authors: Ottová-Jordan
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Fiona
authors: F
authors: Brooks
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Joanna
authors: J
authors: Mazur
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Raili
authors: R
authors: Välimaa
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Inese
authors: I
authors: Gobina
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Margarida
authors: M
authors: Gaspar de Matos
authors: 1 Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
authors: Ulrike
authors: U
authors: Raven-Sieberer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009656:North America; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012737:Sex Factors