Psychological well-being in adolescence: associated and predictive psychological variables

Abstract

Psychological well-being seems to be associated with healthy lifestyle habits, with positive personality variables and absence of relevant clinical symptoms. This study aims to: (1) describe the differences of gender and age in the variables: life habits, positive psychological variables and clinical variables; (2) analyze correlations between the variables studied and psychological well-being; (3) investigate the predictive variables of psychological well-being. It was worked with 1075 participants of both sexes of 13 -18, 514 men (47.8%), 542 of 13 - 15 (50.4%) They were evaluated with the psychological well-being scale, Life habits survey, Selfesteem scale of Rosenberg (1965); Scale of body self-esteem; Inventory of psychopathological symptoms SCL 90-R. The results confirm statistically significant differences in life habits, with higher scores for males and younger age. In positive personality variables, males significantly exceed the women and in the negatives to the inverse. It is confirmed that to the better academic performance, the more physical exercise, the better nutrition, the good sleep quality and less consumption of tobacco, alcohol and drugs, the better psychological well-being. Higher scores in positive variables greater psychological well-being. The 56% of psychological well-being is predicted: self-concept, low depression, good sleep quality, body self-esteem, low emotion and high academic performance.