The most salient global predictors of adolescents’ subjective Well-Being: parental support, peer support, and anxiety

This study analyzed data from over 500,000 adolescents across eight world regions to identify the most important factors affecting young people's life satisfaction and happiness. The research found that support from parents and friends were the strongest predictors of whether adolescents felt good about their lives, followed by anxiety levels and gender. The study used statistical modeling to understand these relationships and noted that the relative importance of these factors varied somewhat across different regions.

Key points

• Parental support and peer support were the most salient predictors of adolescents' subjective well-being across all eight world regions
• Anxiety and gender were also significant predictors, following parent and peer support
• Multiple pathways lead to subjective well-being, with variation in the relative importance of factors across regions
• The study was based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 data from over 500,000 adolescents

Limitations

This is a cross-sectional study using PISA data, so it cannot establish causal relationships between these factors and adolescent well-being. The analysis focuses on correlational patterns and cannot tell us whether improving parental or peer support would actually increase well-being, or identify the mechanisms through which these relationships operate.