Adolescent Health: A Framework for Developing an Innovative Personalized Well-Being Index

Abstract

Adolescence is not only typically considered a time of good health but also characterized by an emergence of risk factors that may have long-term consequences for well-being that represents strong predictors of adverse health outcomes. The aim of the study is to assess adolescence well-being through the development of an integrated Well-Being Index (WBI) including variables of lifestyle habits, social context, emotional status, and mental skills. One thousand two hundred forty-eight healthy adolescents (Female 48%; Male 52%; mean age 13 years) were recruited from five Italian junior high schools, by KIDSCREEN-52 and cognitive processing using the Stroop Test. School performance was estimated by questions concerning the scholastic achievement. Social context was the most important predictor of perceived well-being (β = 0.972, SE = 0.014, p < 0.0001), with parent relation (p < 0.0001) as the most observed variable. Subsequently, WBI was strongly represented by lifestyle habits (β = 0.954, SE = 0.017, p < 0.000) with autonomy (p < 0.0001), and emotional status (β = 0.949, SE = 0.017, p < 0.000) with psychological well-being perception (p < 0.0001). Finally, mental skills (β= −0.1417, SE = 0.031, p < 0.0.00) was the least important predictor for the WBI index (p < 0.0001). Personalised (P) WBI was obtained by the sum of each centered and scaled WBI variable, weighted by the corresponding ratio between factor loading and residual variance. Social context was the more important predictor of WBI, followed by lifestyle, emotional factors, and lastly mental skills. PWBI provides an integrated and personalized perspective of adolescents' well-being, on the basis of a cooperation between school, family, and community with the common intent to promote and protect adolescent health.