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Testing the Relationship Between Parents’ and Their Children’s Subjective Well-Being

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  • Ferran Casas
  • Germà Coenders
  • Mònica González
  • Sara Malo
  • Irma Bertran
  • Cristina Figuer

Abstract

Casas et al. (J Happiness Stud 9(2):197–205, 2008 ) found no significant relationship between paired answers given by parents and their 12–16-year-old children (N = 266) for a single-item scale on overall life satisfaction (OLS). However, a significant, but low (.19) parent–child relationship did appear for the PWI multi-item scale. Overall, children reported higher subjective well being than parents. In this article, we present the results obtained from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using more scales and a bigger sample (N = 1,250) of paired parents and children. The study uses three multiple-item scales: the PWI, the SWLS and the BMSLSS, and six single-item scales: the OLS, two items from Russell’s scale on core affects, one on overall happiness, Fordyce’s happiness item and the optional item of the BMSLSS on overall life satisfaction. Separate CFA for each of the 3 multi-item scales showed good fit statistics. In order to check comparability between parents and children, we tested equal loading and intercept constraints. The models with restricted loadings fit only for the PWI and BMSLSS, but none of the models with restricted intercepts fit. Therefore, it was only possible to estimate two factor correlations for parents and their children, both very low (.16 for the PWI, .18 for BMSLSS), and it was not possible to compare factor means. When correlating scores from the 6 single-item scales for parents and children, they were all found to be significant but very low. As regards items from the multiple-item scales for parents and children many correlations are positive and significant, although very low, but others are non significant. The means of some items were substantially higher for children than for parents. For some items, differences were minor, non-significant or even reversed. All of the results suggest that parents’ well-being is very weakly related to their own children’s well-being, in spite of socialization, common material welfare and genetic influences. However, one outstanding result is that in our Catalan sample, parents’ well-being seems to have a greater influence on their female child’s well-being than on their male child’s. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Ferran Casas & Germà Coenders & Mònica González & Sara Malo & Irma Bertran & Cristina Figuer, 2012. "Testing the Relationship Between Parents’ and Their Children’s Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(6), pages 1031-1051, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:13:y:2012:i:6:p:1031-1051
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-011-9305-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. E. Huebner & Julie Seligson & Robert Valois & Shannon Suldo, 2006. "A Review of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 79(3), pages 477-484, December.
    2. Anna Lau & Robert Cummins & Wenda Mcpherson, 2005. "An Investigation into the Cross-Cultural Equivalence of the Personal Wellbeing Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 403-430, July.
    3. Robert Cummins, 2003. "Normative Life Satisfaction: Measurement Issues and a Homeostatic Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 225-256, November.
    4. William Meredith, 1993. "Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 525-543, December.
    5. Ferran Casas & Germà Coenders & Robert Cummins & Mònica González & Cristina Figuer & Sara Malo, 2008. "Does subjective well-being show a relationship between parents and their children?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 197-205, June.
    6. Adrian Tomyn & Robert Cummins, 2011. "The Subjective Wellbeing of High-School Students: Validating the Personal Wellbeing Index—School Children," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 405-418, May.
    7. Julie Seligson & E. Huebner & Robert Valois, 2003. "Preliminary Validation of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 121-145, February.
    8. Michael Fordyce, 1988. "A review of research on the happiness measures: A sixty second index of happiness and mental health," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 355-381, August.
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    2. Almudena Moreno Mínguez, 2017. "The Role of Family Policy in Explaining the International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 1173-1194, December.
    3. Kang-Rae Ma, 2016. "Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth and Life Satisfaction," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1287-1308, December.
    4. Carme Montserrat & Shazly Savahl & Sabirah Adams & Brîndușa Antonia Grigoraș & Claudia Bacter & Sergiu Bălțătescu, 2021. "Children’s Perspectives on Scale Response Options of Subjective Well-Being Measures: A Comparison between Numerical and Verbal-Response Formats," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 53-75, February.
    5. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Abanokova, Kseniya, 2022. "Do Gender, Child, and Parent Characteristics Contribute to Intergenerational Subjective Well-being Mobility? Evidence from Russia during 1994-2019," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1088, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Bibiana Ramos Santos & Jorge Castellá Sarriera & Lívia Maria Bedin, 2019. "Subjective Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Interpersonal Relationships Associated to Socio-Demographic and Contextual Variables," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 819-835, July.
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    9. Cho, Esther Yin-Nei & Yu, Fuk-Yuen, 2020. "A review of measurement tools for child wellbeing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
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