Life satisfaction among European American, African American, Chinese American, Mexican American, and Dominican American adolescents

This study examined contextual and personality factors and their relation to perceived life satisfaction among adolescents in five sociocultural groups. Variations in the contribution of specific predictors were noted for the five groups, but no one factor accounted for a large amount of variance in any group. Among the most consistent predictors were marital status, self-efficacy beliefs, and adolescent health status. Somewhat surprisingly, neither the amount of family conflict, adolescent academic achievement, nor observed socioemotional support from parents was strongly correlated with life satisfaction. The effect of study variables on adolescent quality of life was dependent upon other variables in the analysis. For example, considerate behaviour on the part of the adolescent was suppressed by task-orientation.