The Relationship between Life Satisfaction,Social Interest,and Frequency of Extracurricular Activities among Adolescent Students

The relationship between life satisfaction, social interest, and participation in extracurricular activities was assessed among adolescent students. A total of 321 high school adolescents (Grades 9–12) were administered a multidimensional measure of life satisfaction and a scale that assessed social interest. Adolescents were also asked to list the number of extracurricular activities that they participated in since their enrollment in high school. Higher social interest was significantly related to higher levels of overall satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with friends and family. Significant race differences were noted. Adolescents who participated in greater numbers of structured extracurricular activities reported higher school satisfaction. The relationship between social interest and actual participation in extracurricular activities was negligible. Implications of these findings, as well as suggestions for future research are provided.     

Cross-National Adolescent Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Reports: Analyses of Mean Scores and Response Style Differences

Although numerous cross-national studies have assessed life satisfaction among adults, similar studies using adolescent samples have been rare. To address this shortage of research, a total of 1338 youth adolescents from two individualistic nations (Ireland, USA) and two collectivistic nations (China, South Korea) were administered the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) to assesses general life satisfaction and satisfaction with family, friends, school, self, and living environment. Responses were analyzed to assess potential cross-national differences in (a) mean levels of life satisfaction, and (b) response styles, specifically acquiescence and extreme responding. Mean scores revealed positive ratings by adolescents from all four nations across all domains, with the exceptions of satisfaction with school experiences (Ireland, South Korean, USA), living environment (China, South Korea), self (South Korea), and general life satisfaction (South Korea). Results also revealed significant response style differences across all MSLSS domains. Significant gender and gender-by-nation effects were observed for both mean score and response style differences, although the effect sizes were small. The implications of these findings were discussed, particularly with respect to “individualistic” vs. “collectivistic” cultural differences. Rich Gilman is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. His research interests include positive well-being among youth, perfectionism, and socially ostracized adolescents. Scott Huebner is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. His research interests involve the conceptualization, measurement, and implications of positive psychological well-being constructs among youth. He is a fellow of Division 16 of the APA and the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. Lili Tian is Associate Professor at South China Normal University. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Beijing Normal University. Her major research interests include adolescent's school well-being, acculturation of immigrant children and personality assessment. Nansook Park is Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island. She received her Ph.D. from University of South Carolina. Her major research interests among youth include character strengths and virtues, positive experience and life satisfaction and how they are related to well-being, family functioning, health and education. Jenny O’Byrne received her BA in the Department of Counselling & Psychotherapy from the Dublin Business School. Recent research interests focus on child and adolescent development, and she recently completed her pre-clinical training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with the Lincoln Centre in London. Dina Sverko is a research assistant at the University of Zagreb (Croatia). She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Triest (Italy). Her major research interests include personality assessment and health psychology. Miriam Schiff is lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) at the Hebrew University School of Social Work and Social Welfare in Jerusalem. Her major research interests include trauma and substance use, and general mental health among adolescents in clinic settings. Heather Langknecht received her Ed.S. from the University of Kentucky in 2004. She currently works as a school psychologist at Virginia Beach Public Schools (Virginia). Her primary research interests are cross-national quality of life issues among children and youth.     

Characteristics of Adolescents Who Report Very High Life Satisfaction

This study investigated the characteristics of adolescents who report high levels of life global satisfaction. A total of 485 adolescents completed the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) (Huebner, E. S. (1991). Sch. Psychol. Int. 12: 231–240.) along with self-report measures of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and school-related functioning. Based on their SLSS scores, students were divided into three groups: “low” (bottom 20% of the distribution), “average” (middle 50%), and “high” (upper 20%). Youth in the high satisfaction group reported significantly higher adaptive functioning on all dependent variables than youth in the low satisfaction group. Relative to students with average life satisfaction, students with high life satisfaction reported superior scores on a measure of social stress, a measure of attitudes toward teachers, and on all measures of intrapersonal functioning. Also, no adolescents in the high life satisfaction group demonstrated clinical levels of psychological symptoms, whereas 7% of the average group and 42% of the low satisfaction group reported clinical levels of symptoms. Taken together, the findings suggested that high life satisfaction is associated with some mental health benefits that are not found among youth reporting comparatively lower satisfaction levels.Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. Research interests include positive well-being among youth, perfectionism, and peer neglect. He is a recent recipient of the APA Division 16 (School Psychology) award for scholarly contribution.Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Research interests involve the conceptualization, measurement, and implications of positive psychological well-being constructs among youth. He is currently director of the School Psychology Program, and fellow of Division 16 of the APA and the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.     

Electronic and School-Based Victimization: Unique Contexts for Adjustment Difficulties During Adolescence

Previous research suggests that school-based and electronic victimization have similar negative consequences, yet it is unclear whether these two contexts offer overlapping or unique associations with adolescents’ adjustment. 802 ninth-graders (43% male, mean age = 15.84 years), majority being Caucasian (82%), completed measures assessing the prevalence of school and electronic victimization, as well as self-reports on self-esteem, self-efficacy, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and locus of control. Results revealed that the majority of adolescents did not report being victimized in either the electronic (75.3%) or the school (72.9%) context. Victimization in both contexts was associated with lower self-esteem and self-efficacy as well as higher stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and locus of control. Importantly, even after controlling for school-based victimization, electronic victimization remained as a significant predictor for all outcome measures. Different types of electronic victimization were also associated with different psychological outcomes. The findings suggest that it is important to distinguish between victimization contexts and specific adjustment outcomes as school and health officials continue to battle the effects of peer victimization.