A contextualized measure of Overall Life Satisfaction among adolescents: differences by gender

The main aim of the present study is to explore and test an indicator of subjective wellbeing for adolescents: the Present Overall Life Satisfaction (POLS), derived from subjects’ consciously contextualized reflections on their own life cycle. We believe this to be a novel and innovative approach compared to those instruments traditionally used to date, given that it relates SWB measurement to its time axis. The article also explores this indicator’s performance in relation to gender and levels of anxiety and depression. The sample comprised 614 adolescents with an average age of 16.6 years (Dt = 0.74; age range = 16–19), 58.1% of whom were girls and 41.9% boys. As well as the proposed indicator, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Students’ Life Satisfaction Scales (SLSS) were used as indicators of subjective well-being, and the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale (GADS) as indicators of unease. Life satisfaction scores were higher among boys than among girls. These significantly lower levels of satisfaction in adolescent girls are also associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression than among boys. The results confirm that the Present Overall Life Satisfaction (POLS) is a good indicator of subjective well-being, since it captures core aspects that are considered to form part of that construct. That said, it is also evident that it captures different aspects than those of traditional indicators based on context-free scales, thereby opening new avenues of research to better understanding how adolescents evaluate their overall satisfaction with life.