Individual and contextual correlates of adolescent health and well-being

Assessing a broad positive outcome such as well-being presents numerous challenges and empirical investigations are limited. This study used an eco-interactional-developmental perspective based on risk and protective factors to examine individual and contextual correlates of health and well-being in a sample of 20,749 ethnically diverse middle and high school students. School fixed-effects regression analyses modeling a composite measure of well-being as a function of youth, peer, family, school, and neighborhood characteristics indicated that the measure was most stable when modeled as a global (vs. domain specific) composite. Relational (vs. expectation and behavioral) characteristics of parental and peer involvement were more influential in predicting adolescent well-being. The implications for interventions striving to enhance well-being across developmental transitions are discussed.