Neighbourhood satisfaction and happiness but not urbanization level affect self-rated health in adolescents.

BACKGROUND It is hypothesized that neighbourhood satisfaction and subjective happiness are associated with self-rated health or mediate the effect from urbanization levels among youth. METHODS Taiwan Youth Project was a cross-sectional study in two cities, Taipei and Yilan, Taiwan including 5,586 students. Information on neighbourhood satisfaction, happiness, urbanization levels, and self-rated health was obtained by interview. RESULTS Neighbourhood satisfaction and happiness were both significantly associated with self-rated health (both p<0.001) while urbanization level was not (p>0.05). Neighbourhood satisfaction is also highly correlated with happiness (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Future public health intervention should attend to neighbourhood satisfaction and happiness for youth.