Interactions between Family Environment and Personality in the Prediction of Child Life Satisfaction

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the contribution of family environment and personality and their interactions in the prediction of child life satisfaction in a community sample of Russian primary schoolchildren aged 7-10 years (N = 1004, 54% girls). Life satisfaction was measured by self-reported Huebner’s Students' Life Satisfaction Scale; parents reported about family background and completed the Self Reporting Questionnaire and the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire – Brief Form; personality was measured by the parent-reported Inventory of Child Individual Differences – Short version at the two levels of the hierarchical structure. Multiple regression analysis indicated that income, parental stress, corporal punishment and personality traits of neuroticism and, intelligence were significantly and independently associated with child life satisfaction. Interaction effects highlighted the importance of positive emotionality and emotional stability as buffers for children exposed to inconsistent and harsh parenting, respectively. Although the personality traits of fearlessness and conscientiousness were positively associated with life satisfaction in the total sample, they placed children at risk for low life satisfaction when their parents experienced distress and marital transitions, respectively. These findings indicate that some personality traits qualify the main effects of some family factors and vice versa, therefore, some individual characteristics or environmental factors may contribute to child life satisfaction only under certain conditions.