IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i22p4404-d285698.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social and Behavioral Predictors of Adolescents’ Positive Attitude towards Life and Self

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Malinowska-Cieślik

    (Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, 20 Grzegorzecka Str., 31-531 Krakow, Poland)

  • Joanna Mazur

    (Collegium Medicum, University of Zielona Gora, 26 Zyty Str., 65-046 Zielona Gora, Poland
    Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child, 17A Kasprzaka Str., 01-211 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Hanna Nałęcz

    (Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child, 17A Kasprzaka Str., 01-211 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Agnieszka Małkowska-Szkutnik

    (Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw, 16/20 Mokotowska Str., 00-561 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Positive attitude is an important cognitive component of optimism. Although optimism has been widely studied in adolescents’ health, there is limited knowledge about social and behavioral determinants of their positive attitude. The aim of this study was to identify the main predictors of a positive attitude towards life and self in adolescence. Data were collected in 2010 from 2562 Polish adolescents, aged 15 to 17 years old, within the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey. A positive attitude was measured using the 4-item Positive Attitude Scale (PAS). Univariate analysis of variance was conducted and then hierarchical linear regression models adjusted for gender, age and family affluence were estimated. The mean PAS score was 13.25 (SD = 3.74), on the scale ranged 0–20. Eight out of 18 variables were included in the final model, which explained 25.1% of PAS variability. Communication in the family and with peers, as well as neighborhood social capital showed the strongest impact on positive attitude in adolescents. Physical activity, eating breakfast and school performance were also found to be important predictors. The results of the study highlight the need to include the development of interpersonal competences, promoting physical activity and supporting school performance, in adolescents’ mental health promotion programs, particularly in girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Malinowska-Cieślik & Joanna Mazur & Hanna Nałęcz & Agnieszka Małkowska-Szkutnik, 2019. "Social and Behavioral Predictors of Adolescents’ Positive Attitude towards Life and Self," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:22:p:4404-:d:285698
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4404/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/22/4404/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irene Moor & Thomas Lampert & Katharina Rathmann & Benjamin Kuntz & Petra Kolip & Jacob Spallek & Matthias Richter, 2014. "Explaining educational inequalities in adolescent life satisfaction: do health behaviour and gender matter?," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(2), pages 309-317, April.
    2. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D., 1997. "Social capital, income inequality, and mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1491-1498.
    3. Carmen Viejo & Mercedes Gómez-López & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz, 2018. "Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being: A Multidimensional Measure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Kimberly Thomson & Kimberly Schonert-Reichl & Eva Oberle, 2015. "Optimism in Early Adolescence: Relations to Individual Characteristics and Ecological Assets in Families, Schools, and Neighborhoods," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 889-913, August.
    5. Dorota Kleszczewska & Agnieszka Małkowska Szkutnik & Jadwiga Siedlecka & Joanna Mazur, 2019. "Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviours and Duration of Sleep as Factors Affecting the Well-Being of Young People against the Background of Environmental Moderators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Currie, Candace & Molcho, Michal & Boyce, William & Holstein, Bjørn & Torsheim, Torbjørn & Richter, Matthias, 2008. "Researching health inequalities in adolescents: The development of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Family Affluence Scale," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 1429-1436, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Małgorzata Szcześniak & Iga Bajkowska & Anna Czaprowska & Aleksandra Sileńska, 2022. "Adolescents’ Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction: Communication with Peers as a Mediator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Martine Shareck & Eliana Aubé & Stephanie Sersli, 2023. "Neighborhood Physical and Social Environments and Social Inequalities in Health in Older Adolescents and Young Adults: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Yiting E & Jianke Yang & Yifei Shen & Xiaojuan Quan, 2023. "Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Academic Burden: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Health among Chinese Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Dorota Kleszczewska & Katarzyna Porwit & Zuzana Boberova & Eric Sigmund & Jana Vasickova & Leena Paakkari, 2021. "Adolescent Health Literacy and Neighbourhood Features: HBSC Findings from Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Camille Inquimbert & Celine Clement & Antoine Couatarmanach & Paul Tramini & Denis Bourgeois & Florence Carrouel, 2022. "Oral Hygiene Practices and Knowledge among Adolescents Aged between 15 and 17 Years Old during Fixed Orthodontic Treatment: Multicentre Study Conducted in France," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-11, February.
    6. Rosario Padial-Ruz & Gloria González-Campos & Félix Zurita-Ortega & M. Esther Puga-González, 2020. "Associations between Feelings of Loneliness and Attitudes towards Physical Education in Contemporary Adolescents According to Sex, and Physical Activity Engagement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-14, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yekaterina Chzhen & Irene Moor & William Pickett & Emilia Toczydlowska & Gonneke Stevens & UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2016. "Family Affluence and Inequality in Adolescent Health and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from the HBSC study 2002-2014," Papers inwopa836, Innocenti Working Papers.
    2. Tommy Haugan & Sally Muggleton & Arnhild Myhr, 2021. "Psychological distress in late adolescence: The role of inequalities in family affluence and municipal socioeconomic characteristics in Norway," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Rong Zou & Gengfeng Niu & Wu Chen & Cuiying Fan & Yuan Tian & Xiaojun Sun & Zongkui Zhou, 2018. "Socioeconomic Inequality and Life Satisfaction in Late Childhood and Adolescence: A Moderated Mediation Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 305-318, February.
    4. Aminzadeh, Kaveh & Denny, Simon & Utter, Jennifer & Milfont, Taciano L. & Ameratunga, Shanthi & Teevale, Tasileta & Clark, Terryann, 2013. "Neighbourhood social capital and adolescent self-reported wellbeing in New Zealand: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 13-21.
    5. Anderson, Cameron & Hildreth , John Angus D., 2016. "Striving for superiority: The human desire for status," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt5pn0f0jm, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    6. Tomoki Fujii, 2013. "Geographic decomposition of inequality in health and wealth: evidence from Cambodia," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(3), pages 373-392, September.
    7. Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace, 2012. "Discrimination makes me sick! An examination of the discrimination–health relationship," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 99-111.
    8. Yamamura, Eiji, 2011. "Different effects of social capital on health status among residents: Evidence from modern Japan," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 475-479.
    9. Stefano Bartolini & Francesco Sarracino, 2021. "Happier and Sustainable. Possibilities for a post-growth society," Department of Economics University of Siena 855, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    10. Michael Marmot, 2001. "Income inequality, social environment, and inequalities in health," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 156-159.
    11. Jonathan K Burns & Andrew Tomita & Amy S Kapadia, 2014. "Income inequality and schizophrenia: Increased schizophrenia incidence in countries with high levels of income inequality," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(2), pages 185-196, March.
    12. Tse-Chuan Yang & Stephen A Matthews, 2015. "Death by Segregation: Does the Dimension of Racial Segregation Matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, September.
    13. Kern, Matthias Robert & Heinz, Andreas & Stevens, Gonneke W.J.M. & Walsh, Sophie D. & Willems, Helmut, 2020. "“What's a normal weight?” – Origin and receiving country influences on weight-status assessment among 1.5 and 2nd generation immigrant adolescents in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    14. Kim Dalziel & Max Catchpool & Borja García-Lorenzo & Inigo Gorostiza & Richard Norman & Oliver Rivero-Arias, 2020. "Feasibility, Validity and Differences in Adolescent and Adult EQ-5D-Y Health State Valuation in Australia and Spain: An Application of Best–Worst Scaling," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 38(5), pages 499-513, May.
    15. Byoung-Jin Jeon & Kang-Hyun Park, 2022. "The Impact of Social Network Characteristics on Health among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Korea: Application of Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-9, March.
    16. Khan, Aamir & Walmsley, Terrie & Mukhopadhyay, Kakali, 2019. "Trade Liberalization and Income Inequality: The Case for Pakistan," Conference papers 333125, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    17. Su Kye & Keeho Park, 2014. "Health-related determinants of happiness in Korean adults," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 59(5), pages 731-738, October.
    18. Isabella Romano & Mark A. Ferro & Karen A. Patte & Ed Diener & Scott T. Leatherdale, 2020. "Measurement Invariance of the Flourishing Scale among a Large Sample of Canadian Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Islam, M. Kamrul & Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Gullberg, Bo & Lindström, Martin & Merlo, Juan, 2008. "Social capital externalities and mortality in Sweden," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 19-42, March.
    20. Georg Kanitsar, 2022. "The Inequality-Trust Nexus Revisited: At What Level of Aggregation Does Income Inequality Matter for Social Trust?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 171-195, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:22:p:4404-:d:285698. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.