Ethnic Differences in Quality of Life in Adolescents among Chinese, Malay and Indians in Singapore

　　Author(s): Tze Pin Ng, Lionel Chee Chong Lim, Aizhen Jin and N. Shinfuku

　　Source: Quality of Life Research, Vol. 14, No. 7 (Sep., 2005), pp. 1755-1768

　　Background: Health-related quality of life in adolescents and ethnic and cultural differences are not well characterized. We used the Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adolescents( QOLQA)t o examine ethnic differences in reported QOL scores among Chinese, Malay and Indian ethnicities in Singapore. Methods: The 70-item QOLQA measuring five QOL domains (physical, psychological, independence, social and environmental)w as administered to a random sample of 1363 school-children aged 10 15 years, repre-sentative of the ethnic composition of Singapore adolescents (Chinese 72%, Malays 20% and Indians 8%). Results: Indians reported the highest overall QOL (mean 3.71 zt SD 0.54) compared to Chinese (3.59 i 0.43), p < 0.05, and Malays (3.58 i 0.44), p < 0.05. In particular, Indians had significantly higher psychological QOL scores (3.73 i 0.61) compared to Chinese (3.55 + 0.54), p < 0.01. On the other hand, Chinese scored highest on physical and independence domains (3.97 i 0.54), p < 0.01 compared to Malays( 3.82 + 0.55). There were no statistically significant gender differences in QOL scores. QOL declined significantly from age 10 to 15 for overall score, psychological, physical (p ' 0.01) and environmental(p < 0.05). Lower socio-economic status and the self-report of a significant health problem were significantly associated with lower overall Q OL and most domains. These ethnic differences persisted after adjusting for differences in socio-economic and health status. Psychometric properties and known group construct validity appeared to be similar across different ethnic groups, but compared to Chinese (r = 0.39) or Malays (r = 0.39), Indians showed a higher correlation of psychological scores with physical score (r = 0.59) and with other domain scores. Conclusion: Significant ethnic differences in reported adolescent quality of life among Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore that are independent of socio-economic and health status suggest important cultural differences.

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