Abstract
AIM: To examine differences in health-related quality of life between boys and girls in the first and third years of upper secondary school. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study. METHODS: The KIDSCREEN-10 was used to assess health-related quality of life. Differences in health-related quality of life over time were estimated using a linear mixed-effects model for correlated measurements. RESULTS: In the first-year boys (N = 168) and girls (N = 228) reported a mean health-related quality of life score of 76.3 (SD 10.7) and 69.8 (SD 11.5), respectively. In the third year, the mean health-related quality of life score for boys and girls was 73.5 (SD 12.4) and 65.7 (SD 13.3), respectively. Boys had a significant decrease in health-related quality of life mean score of -2.6 and girls a significant decrease of -3.8 (p < .001) over the 3-year period. There was no significant difference between boys' and girls' health-related quality of life changes (p = .39).