Hello,

One would expect satisfaction with life to be closely related to their sense of self, or identity. I would recommend Erik Erikson's developmental theory, as well as neo-eriksonian authors such as James Marcia. Marcis developed a semi-structured interview to assess patterns of identity integration in adolescents.

Cheers,

David J

Hello,

Did you read the work of Shalock & al. about quality of life? May be you can find some interesting lines of thought & references. These are some articles which may help you in your study:

Schalock, R. L. (2004). The concept of quality of life: what we know and do not know. Journal of intellectual disability research, 48(3), 203-216.

Lachapelle, Y., Wehmeyer, M. L., Haelewyck, M. C., Courbois, Y., Keith, K. D., Schalock, R., ... & Walsh, P. N. (2005). The relationship between quality of life and self‐determination: an international study. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49(10), 740-744.

Bramston, P., Chipuer, H., & Pretty, G. (2005). Conceptual principles of quality of life: an empirical exploration. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49(10), 728-733.

Verdugo, M. A., Schalock, R. L., Keith, K. D. and Stancliffe, R. J. (2005), Quality of life and its measurement: important principles and guidelines. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49: 707–717.

Schalock, R. L., & Felce, D. (2004). Quality of life and subjective well-being: Conceptual and measurement issues. International handbook of applied research in intellectual disabilities, 261-279.

Shogren, K. A., Lopez, S. J., Wehmeyer, M. L., Little, T. D., & Pressgrove, C. L. (2006). The role of positive psychology constructs in predicting life satisfaction in adolescents with and without cognitive disabilities: An exploratory study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(1), 37-52.

Most of these articles are in the field of intellectual disability but Shalock try to conceptualize quality of life in its different dimensions & indicators.

I hope it can help!

See Urie Brofenbrener

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-79721997000200013

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-79721997000200013