Peer-reviewed article
Trends and Influencing Factors in Temporal Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study.
Hu Y, Zhang L, Yuan T, Cui Y, Liu K et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This longitudinal study tracked 568 Chinese adolescents aged 16-19 years across 2018, 2020, and 2022 to understand how their psychological well-being changes over time. The researchers measured three aspects of well-being: subjective well-being, future confidence, and life satisfaction. They found that all three dimensions declined significantly over the study period, and that health status, academic pressure, and parent-child relationships were key factors influencing these changes. The study also showed that improvements or declines in interpersonal relationships developed alongside changes in psychological well-being.
Key points
- Adolescents' subjective well-being, future confidence, and life satisfaction all showed significant linear decline over the 4-year study period
- Health status, academic pressure, and parent-child relationships were significantly associated with both initial levels and developmental trajectories of psychological well-being
- Interpersonal relationships and temporal psychological well-being showed co-development patterns, with parallel changes over time
- The study used latent growth curve modelling on longitudinal data from China Family Panel Studies collected in 2018, 2020, and 2022
- Findings provide empirical evidence that could inform targeted interventions for adolescent mental health
Limitations
This study is observational and does not test any intervention, so it cannot tell us what would improve adolescent psychological well-being or break the observed declining trends. The findings are specific to Chinese adolescents and may not generalise to other cultural contexts.
Abstract
Temporal psychological well-being (subjective well-being, future confidence and life satisfaction) is an important indicator of the level of mental health and well-being. During adolescence, the dynamic development of their psychological well-being is more susceptible to multiple factors. However, the trends and multidimensional influences on adolescents' temporal psychological well-being, as well as their co-development with the relationship between interpersonal relationships and temporal psychological well-being, are not known. Therefore, 568 adolescents (Mage ± SD = 17.41 ± 1.14) aged 16 to 19 years were selected for this study using longitudinal data from the 2018, 2020, and 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Analyses were conducted using the latent growth curve model (LGCM). It was found that adolescents' subjective well-being, future confidence, and life satisfaction showed a significant linear decline. Health status, academic pressure, and parent-child relationships were significantly associated with the initial level and developmental trajectory of temporal psychological well-being. In addition, we observed co-development patterns between interpersonal relationships and adolescents' temporal psychological well-being, such that parallel changes in interpersonal relationships coincided with changes in well-being over time, and vice versa. This study reveals the dynamic patterns of changes in adolescents' temporal psychological well-being and their co-development with relationships, providing empirical evidence for targeted interventions.