Purpose: Emerging concepts of adolescent health were considered within a broadened quality of life perspective. Instrumentation examining quality of life-the extent to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his/her life-in three broad domains of adolescent functioning: being, belonging, and becoming, was developed and validated.
Methods: The 54-item Quality of Life Profile: Adolescent Version (QOLPAV) asks adolescents to rate items for importance and satisfaction. The QOLPAV was administered, together with a range of other measures of adolescent functioning, to 160 Canadian adolescents.
Results: QOLPAV scores were reliable and correlated with measures of adolescent personality, self-reported health status, and tobacco and alcohol use.
Conclusions: With further validation, the QOLPAV could be used to assess current states of coping and functioning, identify adolescents' service needs, develop health enhancing environments, and assess the effects of illness and treatments.