A comparative study of the subjective well-being of parents and adolescents considering gender, age and social class

Abstract

This paper reports on a comparative analysis of the subjective well-being of parents and their adolescent children regarding gender, age and social class. Participants were 543 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years (68.3 % girls) and their respective parents with an average age of approximately 44 years (SD = 5.65). Results show significant differences between the averages of different well-being domains and the averages are higher for adolescents than for parents mostly. With respect to gender, it is observed that girls as mothers present lower average than boys and parents for the Satisfaction with Life Scale and for the happiness measure. Considering age, in general there were no significant differences found for adolescents and parents, despite a decrease in the mean for several measures for adolescents when increasing age. There were differences in social class, and the means of well-being are lower for participants from lower middle class. Specifically, there are differences between the interaction of social class and gender, and female participants from lower middle class have lower average well-being.