Satisfaction of Adolescents Aged 12-14 : The Effect of How They Were Surveyed?

Abstract

The article investigates satisfaction of Hungarian adolescents aged 12–14, comparing data from a home survey and a school survey. Satisfaction items are measured on a 0–10-point scale. We estimate the effect of survey settings on satisfaction through ordered logit regression analysis. Contrary to potential expectations, the analysis finds that adolescents are not conformists, they express dissatisfaction with school or home matters even if they are interviewed at the respective place the question is focused on, indicating that adolescents are more critical with items contributing to their satisfaction levels that are more strongly related to the survey location. The analysis identified some satisfaction items that seem to be less sensitive to survey effects, thus these might be more reliable indicators of child satisfaction with broader relevance. Our results suggest that social desirability of the answers does not necessarily depend on survey settings.