ERIC Number: EJ748254
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Jun
Pages: 9
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0047-2891
EISSN: N/A
Characteristics of Adolescents Who Report Very High Life Satisfaction
Gilman, Rich; Huebner, E. Scott
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, v35 n3 p293-301 Jun 2006
This study investigated the characteristics of adolescents who report high levels of life global satisfaction. A total of 485 adolescents completed the "Students' Life Satisfaction Scale" (SLSS) (Huebner, E. S. (1991). "Sch. Psychol. Int." 12: 231-240.) along with self-report measures of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and school-related functioning. Based on their SLSS scores, students were divided into three groups: "low" (bottom 20% of the distribution), "average" (middle 50%), and "high" (upper 20%). Youth in the high satisfaction group reported significantly higher adaptive functioning on all dependent variables than youth in the low satisfaction group. Relative to students with average life satisfaction, students with high life satisfaction reported superior scores on a measure of social stress, a measure of attitudes toward teachers, and on all measures of intrapersonal functioning. Also, no adolescents in the high life satisfaction group demonstrated clinical levels of psychological symptoms, whereas 7% of the average group and 42% of the low satisfaction group reported clinical levels of symptoms. Taken together, the findings suggested that high life satisfaction is associated with some mental health benefits that are not found among youth reporting comparatively lower satisfaction levels.
Descriptors: Individual Characteristics, Adolescents, Life Satisfaction, Adjustment (to Environment), Measures (Individuals), Anxiety, Well Being, Measurement Techniques, Mental Health, Interpersonal Relationship, Scores, Social Influences, Student Attitudes, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Psychological Patterns, Stress Variables
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A