A Multiple Cohort Study of the Gender Gradient of Life Satisfaction during Adolescence: Longitudinal Evidence from Great Britain*

This study is unique in exploiting 12 youth cohorts (aged 11-15) from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) spanning 1996-2017 to investigate the gender gradient of adolescent life satisfaction. We find robust evidence of a cross-cohort gender gap particularly at the extremes of the adolescent life satisfaction distribution. Male adolescents are significantly more likely to report complete life satisfaction (by around 6%-14%) and females to report dissatisfaction (by around 3%-7%) indicating a higher female depression propensity. An intra-household gender gap is found for female adolescents raised with opposite sex siblings. Previous period life satisfaction is the strongest determinant of prospective higher self-reported male satisfaction levels.