Influence of resilience on health-related quality of life in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the influence of resilience on the different dimensions of health-related quality of life in a group of adolescents in Cuenca.

METHOD

A descriptive, cross-sectional, multicentre and multistage study was carried out in 5 secondary schools during the 2015-2016 school year.

INSTRUMENTS

A self-administered questionnaire, which included sociodemographic characteristics and the CD-RISC 10 scale to assess resilience together with the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire to measure health-related quality of life.

RESULTS

Data were obtained from 844 students, of whom 54% were girls and the mean age was 16.36±1.05 years. Higher resilience scores were observed in boys. Health-related quality of life was lower in girls (except in the dimension of social acceptance) and in the oldest group. Resilience was significantly associated with all KIDSCREEN-52 dimensions and proved to be a relevant predictor, especially in the dimensions related with mental health and all those that measure social relationships.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides evidence on the synergy between health-related quality of life and resilience in adolescents. Resilience is associated with higher levels of quality of life in adolescents and as the scores are lower in girls, it could be one of the explanatory factors for their poorer health-related quality of life.