Children's subjective well-being and the protective role of friendships, school satisfaction and neighborhood in the face of peer victimization

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze childreńs subjective well-being (SWB) and the protective role of contextual factors (satisfaction with friends, with school and in the neighborhood) as well as the influence of individual aspects (gender and age) in the face of peer victimization. For this purpose, 325 Brazilian students aged 10–12 years from public (83 %) and private (17 %) schools in the State of Rio de Janeiro participated by answering a self-report questionnaire containing socio-demographic questions and psychometric scales that were part of Children's Worlds, the International Survey of Children's Well-Being – ISCWeB. SWB was measured by using the CW-SWBS: Children's Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale. Contextual factors were assessed through items in the same scales used in the survey. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the role of peer victimization, along with individual and contextual factors in the variability of CW-SWBS scores. The results of the final model highlighted that girls had lower levels of well-being than boys (β = -0.22) and older children also had lower levels of SWB when compared to younger peers (β = -0.19). Furthermore, the positive contextual factors reduce the consequences of victimization. The most important effect was the friend satisfaction (β = 0.33; p < 0.001), school satisfaction (β = 0.26; p = 0.001) and satisfaction with neighborhood (β = 0.20; p < 0.001) – which suppressed the negative effects of victimization (β = 0.01; p = 0.858). The findings give support to the interdependence of positive individual and contextual factors to promote well-being at different developmental system levels according to the bioecological theory of human development.