Quality of life and self-perceived health of adolescents in Middle School

PURPOSE: Quality of life and self-perception of health are useful indicators for children and adolescents, as they are associated with objective and subjective states of health, including physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and environmental aspects. This study aims to characterize the adolescents at a Brazilian private financing school and to analyze the association between quality of life, health self-perception, and the sociodemographic profile. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, observational study conducted with 124 elementary school students. The questionnaires of Characterization of the participants, Health Self-perception and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory ™ (PedsQL™) were applied to the adolescents and, to the parents or guardians, the Brazil Economic Classification Criteria questionnaires and PedsQLTM. RESULTS: The majority of the participants were female, belonged to economy class A, declared to have excellent health self-perception, and attributed a good score for their health. The majority of parents and adolescents evaluated positively the physical, psychosocial, and overall quality of life dimensions. Having a positive health self-perception increased the chances of having a good quality of life and the increase of one year in age decreased the chances of the adolescent having a positive quality of life assessment. CONCLUSION: The study of adolescence is essential to broaden the understanding of aspects related to the quality of life, both in its physical and psychosocial dimension and to self-perception. This knowledge will provide adolescents with an incentive for their well-being, better performance of their activities, and greater preparation for adult life.