A Gender-Based Comparison of Levels and Determinants of Adolescent Well-Being: Results from a Canadian National Survey

Abstract

Using data from Canada’s National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, the authors compared the levels of well-being between female and male adolescents and examined the specific determinants of well-being for each gender. The authors determined that a higher proportion of female youth reported doing well in school whereas the male youth reported higher levels of self-esteem and physical aggression. For both genders, the number of children living in the home and level of parental education were associated with their school performance. The self-esteem of female youth was apparently influenced by various parental factors such as home ownership status, level of education, and depression, whereas family dysfunction was associated with the self-esteem of male youth. Living in poverty, family dysfunction and parental age were all associated with the physical aggression levels of male youth, while for females, physical aggression was seemingly influenced by the level of parental education.