Adolescents who feel good about themselves tend to have better mental and physical outcomes later in life on average. This is shown by research of biological psychologists Anne Geijsen and Meike Bartels.
For the study, data from more than 14,000 participants of the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) were analyzed. The results were published in Nature Communications.
The study shows that wellbeing of young people between the ages of 14 and 16 is associated with several aspects of their later lives, including mental health, personality, sleep, and self-rated health - even up to twenty years later.
Increasing attention to mental health
In recent years, the mental health of young people has received significant attention. Many teenagers experience pressure at school, online, and in their social lives. At the same time, little is known about the long-term consequences of whether adolescents feel good- or less good - during their teenage years.
To better understand this, Anne Geijsen and Meike Bartels studied the wellbeing of adolescents aged 14 to 16 and followed them into adulthood, between ages 20 and 35. The researchers examined various later-life outcomes, including wellbeing, mental health, personality, sleep, and self-rated health.
Positive link with later functioning
The results show that adolescents who feel better during their teenage years generally function better as young adults. Later in life, they report higher wellbeing, perceive their health as better, and sleep better on average.
They also score higher on conscientiousness, a personality trait associated with perseverance and a sense of responsibility. At the same time, they report lower levels of neuroticism, a personality trait linked to stress, worrying, and emotional instability.
Some of these associations remained even after researchers accounted for how well the adolescents were already doing during adolescence. This suggests that wellbeing at a young age may be related to later development.
Role of family and genetics
An important question in the study was the extent to which these associations are explained by factors within the family, such as upbringing or genetic predisposition.
To investigate this, the researchers used a so-called sibling-comparison design. In this approach, brothers and sisters- and in this case also twins - are compared with each other. Because they share many genes and a similar upbringing environment, researchers can better estimate which effects are linked to individual differences in wellbeing.
The analyses show that the associations become smaller when family members are compared with each other. This suggests that shared factors such as genetics and upbringing may explain part of associations. At the same time, several associations remained, indicating that adolescent wellbeing may have a direct effect on health and functioning up to 20 years later.
Anne Geijsen explains: “We see that young people who feel good during their teenage years carry this into later life. The effect remains even after we account for what siblings share with each other, such as upbringing and genetic background. This shows that wellbeing during adolescence truly matters, and that it is worthwhile to pay attention to it early on.”
Importance for societal wellbeing
According to the researchers, the results highlight the importance of focusing on young people’s wellbeing. This involves not only preventing mental health problems but also actively promoting wellbeing. Meike Bartels says: “This and other research from our group shows that wellbeing is not only an outcome measure. It is even more important that we see wellbeing as a starting point and a catalyst.”