Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Sociology, University of York, Wentworth College, W/247, Heslington, YO10 5DD, UK.
J Youth Adolesc. 2018 May;47(5):1073-1085. doi: 10.1007/s10964-017-0756-7. Epub 2017 Oct 11.
Cross-national differences in adolescent life satisfaction in Europe and North America are consistent, but remain poorly understood. While previous studies have predominantly focused on the explanatory role of economic factors, such as national wealth and income equality, they revealed weak associations, at most. This study examines whether societal gender equality can explain the observed cross-national variability in adolescent life satisfaction. Based on the assumption that gender equality fosters a supportive social context, for example within families through a more equal involvement of fathers and mothers in child care tasks, adolescent life satisfaction was expected to be higher in more gender-equal countries. To test this hypothesis, national-level data of gender equality (i.e., women's share in political participation, decision making power, economic participation and command over resources) were linked to data from 175,470 adolescents aged 11-16 years old (M = 13.6, SD = 1.64, 52% girls) from 34 European and North American countries involved in the 2009/10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Results of linear multilevel regression analyses indicate that adolescents in countries with relatively high levels of gender equality report higher life satisfaction than their peers in countries with lower levels of gender equality. The association between gender equality and adolescent life satisfaction remained significant after controlling for national wealth and income equality. It was equally strong for boys and girls. Moreover, the association between gender equality and life satisfaction was explained by social support in the family, peer and school context. This analysis suggests that gender equality fosters social support among members of a society, which in turn contributes to adolescent life satisfaction. Thus, promoting gender equality is likely to benefit all members of a society; not just by giving equal rights to women and girls, but also by fostering a supportive social climate for all.
跨国家青少年生活满意度在欧洲和北美的差异是一致的，但仍了解甚少。虽然之前的研究主要集中在经济因素的解释作用，如国家财富和收入平等，但它们最多只揭示了微弱的关联。本研究探讨了社会性别平等是否可以解释观察到的青少年生活满意度在跨国间的变化。基于性别平等促进支持性社会环境的假设，例如通过父亲和母亲更平等地参与育儿任务，在性别平等程度较高的国家，青少年生活满意度应该更高。为了检验这一假设，将性别平等的国家层面数据（即妇女在政治参与、决策权、经济参与和对资源的控制方面的份额）与来自 34 个欧洲和北美国家的 175470 名 11-16 岁青少年（M = 13.6，SD = 1.64，52%为女孩）的数据联系起来，这些青少年参与了 2009/10 年的“青少年健康行为”研究。线性多层回归分析的结果表明，性别平等程度相对较高的国家的青少年比性别平等程度较低的国家的同龄人报告更高的生活满意度。在控制了国家财富和收入平等之后，性别平等与青少年生活满意度之间的关联仍然显著。这种关联对男孩和女孩同样强烈。此外，性别平等与生活满意度之间的关联可以通过家庭、同伴和学校环境中的社会支持来解释。这项分析表明，性别平等促进了社会成员之间的社会支持，这反过来又有助于青少年的生活满意度。因此，促进性别平等可能会使社会中的所有成员受益；不仅通过赋予妇女和女孩平等权利，还通过为所有人营造支持性的社会氛围。
