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Health-related quality of life in a sample of Australian adolescents: gender and age comparison

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Abstract

Purpose

The primary purpose of this study was to profile the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of secondary school-aged children in Australia. The secondary purpose was to contribute to the international literature on the HRQoL of adolescents using the KIDSCREEN instrument.

Methods

The KIDSCREEN-27 Questionnaire was completed by 1111 adolescents aged between 11 and 17 from six Australian secondary schools. MANCOVA analysis was employed to examine age and gender differences.

Results

Over 70 % of participants reported high levels of HRQoL across all five dimensions. Age patterns were identified with younger adolescents reporting greater HRQoL than older adolescents. Similarly, gender differences were noted with male adolescents reporting higher scores than female adolescents on three out of five dimensions of HRQoL.

Conclusions

This is the first study to measure HRQoL in Australian adolescents using the KIDSCREEN instrument. Consistent with previous research, gender and age differences were found across most dimensions of HRQoL. These results highlight the importance of comprehensively measuring the HRQoL in adolescents to capture developmental shifts and to inform preventative and supportive programs as needed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Australian Research Council, Grant No. LP100100369 titled ‘Bridging the gap on locational disadvantage: Impact of community-identified interventions on social capital, psychosocial and socioeconomic outcomes’. The research was conducted by the University of Western Sydney research team headed by Professor Rhonda G Craven and chief investigators A/Prof Geoffrey E Munns and A/Prof Tanya Meade in partnership with The Benevolent Society and partner investigators Dr Genevieve Nelson, Mr Andrew Anderson. We thank the six schools for participating in this study. We also thank Dr Michael Hough for statistical advice and assistance.

Conflict of interest

All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Compliance with ethical standards

This study was approved by the University of Western Sydney Human Ethics Committee and the Department of Education, New South Wales Ethics Committee. The study was conducted according to the Helsinki ethical principles of research.

Informed consent

All participants provided informed consent prior to their participation in the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, PO Box 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Tanya Meade & Elizabeth Dowswell

Authors
  1. Tanya Meade
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  2. Elizabeth Dowswell
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Correspondence to Tanya Meade.

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Meade, T., Dowswell, E. Health-related quality of life in a sample of Australian adolescents: gender and age comparison. Qual Life Res 24, 2933–2938 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1033-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1033-4

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