Well-being and health-related quality of life from a population-based perspective - Results from current international and national studies

Population-based surveys of the well-being of children and adolescents enables the identification of risks for and risk-groups of decreased well-being and health strains. Using the examples of three international respectively national population-based studies, it will be illustrated how the complex relations between well-being and its determinants and associates could be studied using a complex statistical modelling approach. We analyzed the data on well-being, psychological problems, personal, familial, and social resources, school environment, tobacco and alcohol consumption surveyed from children and adolescents aged 11 to 18 years within the BELLA study module on mental health (n = 1700) of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey on Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC; n = 7000) and the KIDSCREEN Study (n = 8000). Three linear structural equation model analyses were conducted with LISREL. The a priori specified different LISREL models per study fitted the data well. Personal, familial, and social resources, psychological problems, and school adjustment proved to be important predictors of individual well-being. Results hint at the complex and reciprocal relationship between well-being and tobacco and alcohol consumption. Testing of the specified complex models of the determination of well-being confirmed the results of previous studies of bivariate relationships. The results are in line with theoretical work on well-being.