A non-linear approach to psycological well-being in adolescence : some contributions from the complexity paradigm

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The scientific study of psychological well-being in adolescence is an attractive area with a promising future, but with a more recent history compared with other psychosocial constructs. A deeper knowledge of this stage of life is vital for the design of prevention programmes which are better adapted to the problems which adolescents may be suffering.The most important limitations on its study today are basically epistemological and relate to the problem of finding common visions (as much in terms of definitions as in terms of explanatory theories), shared by a majority of social researchers. The theories of complexity offer a productive alternative in this respect, since the characteristics in which complexity is grounded are, in fact, the same properties which characterise psychosocial phenomena. And that includes psychological well-being. However, the data available, obtained by means of a cross-sectional study, prevent an approach to psychological well-being from any of the properties of complexity with the exception of the characteristic of non-linearity.Exploring the elements of psychological well-being is one of the approach strategies used in its study. This doctoral thesis has chosen some of those elements which emerge from the scientific literature as being more closely connected with psychological well-being: satisfaction with life as a whole and satisfaction with specific domains in life, self-esteem and perceived social support, perception of control and values. The overall aim has been to use the data obtained to build a model of psychological well-being which would permit this phenomenon to be understood from a more integrated and holistic point of view and, as a consequence, offer a more comprehensive way of approaching the phenomenon. \n\n