Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the relative importance of key life domains of early adolescents and to explore the heterogeneities across age cohorts and countries at different levels of economic development.

Methods

The repeated cross-sectional survey data for 10 countries (England, Israel, Romania, Norway, Malta, Nepal, Estonia, Ethiopia, South Korea, and Germany) from the second (2013-2014) and third (2016-2019) waves of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being study were used. Early adolescents from the 10- and 12-year age groups were included. A total of 14 key life domains were investigated on their influence to the global life satisfaction. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used and an importance-performance map analysis was conducted.

Results

A total of 23 732 respondents in wave 2 (49% from 10-year-old group) and 22 265 respondents in wave 3 (50% from 10-year-old group) were studied. On average, possessions and safety are the top 2 most important domains within the second wave for 10-year-olds. However, when split based on country-income groups, health comes out on top for low-to-middle-income countries followed by possessions, with safety domain ranking much lower at seventh. For the 12-year-old group, possessions and safety rank highest on average irrespective of the country’s level of income. Although areas of priority varied across countries, future came out as one of the most important areas adolescents considered needing improvement across age groups and over time.

Conclusion

Findings from this study revealed substantial heterogeneity across nations and provide important information for prioritizing policy implementation to improve subjective well-being among early adolescents.