Social Inequality in Adolescent Life Satisfaction: Comparison of Measure Approaches and Correlation with Macro-level Indices in 41 Countries

Apolinaras Zaborskis (), Monika Grincaite (), Michela Lenzi (), Riki Tesler (), Concepción Moreno-Maldonado () and Joanna Mazur ()
Additional contact information
Apolinaras Zaborskis: Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
Monika Grincaite: Lithuanian University of Health Sciences
Michela Lenzi: University of Padua
Riki Tesler: Ariel University
Concepción Moreno-Maldonado: University of Seville
Joanna Mazur: Institute of Mother and Child

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2019, vol. 141, issue 3, No 6, 1055-1079

Abstract: Abstract Family affluence plays a crucial role in adolescent well-being and is potential source of health inequalities. There are scarce research findings in this area from a cross-national perspective. This study introduces several methods for measuring family affluence inequality in adolescent life satisfaction (LS) and assesses its relationship with macro-level indices. The data (N = 192,718) were collected in 2013/2014 in 39 European countries, Canada, and Israel, according to the methodology of the cross-national Health Behavior in School-aged Children study. The 11-, 13- and 15-year olds were surveyed by means of self-report anonymous questionnaires. Fifteen methods controlling for confounders were tested to measure social inequality in adolescent LS. In each country, all measures indicated that adolescent from more affluent families showed higher satisfaction with their life than did those from less affluent families. According to the Poisson regression estimations, for instance, the lowest inequality in LS was found among adolescents in Malta, while the highest inequality in LS was found among adolescents in Hungary. The ratio between the mean values of LS score at the extreme highest and lowest family affluence levels (Relative Index of Inequality) derived from the regression-based models distinguished for its positive correlation with the Gini index, and negative correlation with Gross National Income, Human Development Index and the mean Overall Life Satisfaction score. The measure allows in-depth exploration of the interplay between individual and macro-socioeconomic factors affecting adolescent well-being from a cross-national perspective.

Keywords: Adolescents; Life satisfaction; Family affluence; Health inequality; Measures; Relative index of inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-018-1860-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:141:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-018-1860-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-018-1860-0

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().