The comprehensive quality of life scale: A psychometric evaluation with an adolescent sample

The term quality of life (QOL) generally refers to the overall evaluation of an individual's life condition, on both objective and subjective dimensions. Quality of life research has focused on global evaluations of life satisfaction in adults. The life quality of adolescents and the performance of central life domains have largely been ignored. This study describes the psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol) with an adolescent sample. In line with recent conceptualisations of QOL, ComQol assesses subjective and objective QOL on seven life domains. ComQol was administered along with two other self-report instruments (measuring fear and anxiety) to a sample of 264 school-based adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years. The scale yielded life satisfaction data that lay within the normative range for adults. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency analyses indicated that the scale has adequate reliability. In support of convergent validity, fear and anxiety were generally found to be significantly associated with lower levels of life quality. The present study supports the psychometric adequacy of ComQol as an instrument to measure the life quality of adolescents.