Life satisfaction at adolescence and adulthood

Life satisfaction and related constructs such as well-being, happiness and quality of life are newer constructs of, so-called, positive psychology. The intention of the scientist is to discriminate, investigate and theoretically explain these constructs. Life satisfaction is often conceptualized as one of three key aspects of psychological (or subjective) well-being, the others being positive and negative affect. It stands together with the affective elements to yield a relatively comprehensive picture of psychological well-being. Great numbers of previous researches have not found consistent results about the relation between life satisfaction and age, so one of the aims of this research was to investigate possible age differences. Results have shown that there were no significant differences in general satisfaction with life, but age differences were evident in the temporal satisfaction with life. Satisfaction with earlier life was the lowest in the group of middle-aged subjects, while the expectation of future satisfaction with life was the highest among the group of younger adolescents. Some differences have been observed in self-esteem, as well. Self-esteem was the lowest in the group of younger adolescents. General satisfaction with life has the highest correlation with temporal satisfaction with life and temporal self-esteem. According to some previous research, sociodemographic variables were good predictors of general life satisfaction.