Pathways of Adolescent Life Satisfaction Association with Family Support, Structure and Affluence: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of life satisfaction for health and well-being, there is a paucity of cross-national comparative studies in life satisfaction related to the family environment. The present research examined the pathways of life satisfaction association with perceived family support and other family environment variables among adolescents aged from 11 to 15 years in 45 countries. Materials and Methods: Samples from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in 2017/2018 were analysed (n = 188,619). Path analysis was applied to evaluate the associations among the study variables. Results: A positive association between the life satisfaction score and high family support was identified in all 45 countries (standardized regression weight ranged from 0.067 to 0.420, p Conclusions: There is evidence that countries with high level of adolescent life satisfaction differ in the high rate of intact family structure and the strong relation between family support and perceived life satisfaction.

Keywords

• adolescents
• life satisfaction
• family support
• family structure
• family affluence
• path analysis