Quality of Life and Well-Being of Adolescents in Portuguese Schools

Fábio Botelho Guedes; Ana Cerqueira; Susana Gaspar; Tania Gaspar; Carmen Moreno; Margarida Gaspar de Matos

doi:10.1007/s12187-023-10021-5

Quality of Life and Well-Being of Adolescents in Portuguese Schools

Child Indic Res. 2023 Mar 7:1-14. doi: 10.1007/s12187-023-10021-5. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Fábio Botelho Guedes^{1

2

3}, Ana Cerqueira^{1

2}, Susana Gaspar^{1

4}, Tania Gaspar^{1

5}, Carmen Moreno⁶, Margarida Gaspar de Matos^{1

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental Health (ISAMB)/Aventura Social, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon (FMUL), Lisbon, Portugal.
² Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon/FMH-UL, Lisbon, Portugal.
³ Lusíada Center for Research in Social Work and Social Intervention (CLISSIS), Lusíada University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ High School of Health, Beja Polytechnic Institute, Beja, Portugal.
⁵ Lusófona University/HEI-LAB, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁶ University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
⁷ APPSYci, ISPA - University Institute, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁸ CENC - Centre for Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

The quality of the school environment is associated with greater school involvement and academic success and improved levels of well-being/quality of life. In this sense, this study intends to explore the relationship between the quality of life of Portuguese adolescents and school. 8215 adolescents participated in this study, 52.7% of which were female, aged between 10 and 22 years and an average age of 14.36 years (SD = 2.28). The sample was collected as part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The results show that girls like school, teachers, school breaks (between classes) and classes more than boys and present less concerns/difficulties with school. Compared to boys, they report more pressure with the schoolwork and a better perception of safety at school. On the other hand, boys have a better relationship with their peers and teachers, miss more classes on purpose and report a higher perception of quality of life. An above-average QoL is statistically and significantly related with liking school, peers, teachers, school breaks (between classes) and classes. It is also related with feeling less pressure with the schoolwork, a better perception of school success and of safety in the school environment. Additionally, having an above-average QoL is statistically significantly associated with having a better relationship with peers and teachers and less concerns/difficulties with school. This is an important message for the reorganization of schools in terms of their practices and curricula. The need to develop strategies to promote greater identification of students with school is reinforced.

Keywords: Adolescents; Quality of life; School; School environment.

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