American High School Students’ Perceptions of Determinants of Life Satisfaction

Shannon Suldo (), Michael Frank, Ashley Chappel, Melanie Albers and Lisa Bateman

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2014, vol. 118, issue 2, 485-514

Abstract: Life satisfaction can be assessed either globally or with regard to satisfaction with specific domains of life. The latter multidimensional approach presumes science has delineated with confidence the specific domains most relevant to evaluating whether the criteria for a good life have been met. This paper shares results of a qualitative study of the perceived determinants of life satisfaction among 30 high school students who were diverse in terms of mental health; 6–10 participants were classified as complete mental health, vulnerable, symptomatic but content, or troubled at two time points separated by a year. Thematic analyses of transcribed individual interviews suggested eight themes that capture the domains of life adolescents perceive influence their happiness. These themes are compared and contrasted to domains included in existing multi-dimensional measures of youth life satisfaction. The factors likely to be particularly salient to students with different levels of mental health are noted. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Keywords: Subjective well-being; Multidimensional life satisfaction; Adolescents; Qualitative; Dual-factor model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:118:y:2014:i:2:p:485-514

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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-013-0436-2

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