Background and Objective Health‐related quality‐of‐life (HRQoL) among young people is a critical indicator of subjective well‐being and quality‐of‐life (QoL), reflecting individual burdens in relation to family, school and peer environments. Data on the HRQoL of adolescent girls is scanty in sub‐Saharan Africa. This study examined HRQoL and its associated factors among adolescent girls in the Mion District of North‐eastern Ghana. Methods The study adopted an analytical cross‐sectional study design with data from the baseline survey of Ten2Twenty‐Ghana study ( n = 909) among adolescent girls aged 10–17 years using pre‐tested validated scales, including the KIDSCREEN‐27 for HRQoL, a health complaints checklist, a socio‐economic and demographic covariates questionnaire, a qualitative 24‐h dietary recall used for dietary diversity score (DDS) and anthropometry. ANOVA was used to test the differences between groups in HRQoL. Predictors of HRQoL were determined using linear mixed‐effects analysis, with school included as a random intercept to account for clustering effects. Results The mean HRQoL score among the adolescent girls was 43.5 ± 6.7 (range 0–100), with 31.8% reporting low HRQoL. In multivariate regression analysis, higher health complaints scores ( β = −1.00 ± 0.16; p = 0.001), food insecurity scores ( β = −0.42 ± 0.18; p = 0.018) and maternal decision‐making index ( β = −0.59 ± 0.27; p = 0.028) were inversely associated with HRQoL. Conversely, dietary diversity was positively associated with HRQoL ( β = 0.76 ± 0.21; p = 0.001), as was sleep duration ( β = 1.01 ± 0.18; p = 0.003). Conclusion This study highlights several determinants of HRQoL among adolescent girls, emphasising the complex interplay between health complaints, dietary diversity, food insecurity, maternal decision‐making and sleep patterns. Overall, the findings emphasise the need for integrated public health strategies addressing nutrition, food security and socio‐cultural factors to improve the well‐being of rural adolescent girls in Ghana.
Chapirah et al. (2026) studied this question.