Brisson Romain, Adayeva Assel, Abdrakhmanova Shynar
Centre for Childhood and Youth Research, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
National Center of Public Health Care of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
J Adolesc. 2025 Jan;97(1):301-309. doi: 10.1002/jad.12404. Epub 2024 Sep 12.
Whether adolescents' life satisfaction varies with gender is unclear. In a recently published study, Brisson et al. found unadjusted mean scores of life satisfaction to be higher in boys than in girls in Luxembourg, a country ranking high in gender-equality indexes. However, gender was no longer predictive of life satisfaction when well-identified predictors of life satisfaction were included in the model. The present work aimed to replicate Brisson et al.'s study in Kazakhstan, a less gender-equal country than Luxembourg, and test the gender-equality-paradox hypothesis.
We used cross-sectional data from the Health-Behavior in School-aged Children study conducted in 2022 to mirror Brisson et al.'s study design. We relied on a nationally representative sample of 7369 school attendees in Kazakhstan (M = 13.4; SD = 1.7; 52.3% female). We performed general linear modeling analyses to achieve our research goals.
In keeping with Brisson et al.'s study, we found unadjusted mean scores of life satisfaction to be higher in boys than in girls. The magnitude of the gender gap was lower in Kazakhstan than in Luxembourg. In contrast to Brisson et al.'s study, controlling for well-identified predictors of life satisfaction did not annul the gap in question but changed its sign. This result suggests that, ceteris paribus, girls were more satisfied with their life than boys. Overall, our replication study supports the gender-equality-paradox hypothesis. Future studies may investigate whether this paradox stems from gendered criteria of life satisfaction assessment and/or sociobiological differences in health profiles.
青少年的生活满意度是否因性别而异尚不清楚。在最近发表的一项研究中，布里松等人发现，在性别平等指数排名靠前的卢森堡，未调整的生活满意度平均得分男孩高于女孩。然而，当将已明确的生活满意度预测因素纳入模型时，性别不再是生活满意度的预测指标。本研究旨在在哈萨克斯坦（一个性别平等程度低于卢森堡的国家）重复布里松等人的研究，并检验性别平等悖论假说。
我们使用了2022年进行的学龄儿童健康行为研究的横断面数据，以模仿布里松等人的研究设计。我们依据哈萨克斯坦7369名在校学生的全国代表性样本（M = 13.4；标准差 = 1.7；52.3%为女性）。我们进行了一般线性模型分析以实现研究目标。
与布里松等人的研究一致，我们发现未调整的生活满意度平均得分男孩高于女孩。哈萨克斯坦的性别差距幅度低于卢森堡。与布里松等人的研究不同，控制已明确的生活满意度预测因素并没有消除上述差距，而是改变了其方向。这一结果表明，在其他条件相同的情况下，女孩对生活的满意度高于男孩。总体而言，我们的重复研究支持性别平等悖论假说。未来的研究可以调查这一悖论是否源于生活满意度评估的性别化标准和/或健康状况方面的社会生物学差异。
