Abstract
Although research from a positive psychology perspective is conducted among different populations, few studies have examined the predictors of life satisfaction among young backpackers. The current study focused on young adults (ages 21–30), an age group for whom backpacking treks are a growing phenomenon, during their treks in the Far East and South America. Direct and indirect models were used to identify personal factors and environmental resources contributing to life satisfaction. After at least one month abroad, 318 young adults (M = 23.76) answered a self-report quantitative questionnaire. The findings show that personal resources, social support, and community participation were positively associated with life satisfaction, and risk-taking behaviors were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Social support and community participation partially mediated the association between risk-taking behaviors and life satisfaction and between personal resources and life satisfaction. The implications of the findings for the subjective well-being of young backpackers during their transition to adulthood include, among others, the need to help young backpackers maintain their personal and social resources as valuable assets for coping with challenges during their trips. It is also important to increase awareness of the possible wide-ranging negative effects of risk-taking behaviors during backpacking trips.
Highlights
Backpacking trips have become a rite of passage for many young people prior to settling into responsible, adult lives
These analyses revealed that risk-taking behaviors were negatively correlated with life satisfaction, such that a higher incidence of risk-taking behaviors related to lower life satisfaction (r = −0.43, p < 0.001)
Guided by the positive psychology movement, which focuses on factors that promote quality of life and life satisfaction, the current study focused on untangling the factors that contribute to high life satisfaction among young backpackers
Summary
Backpacking trips have become a rite of passage for many young people prior to settling into responsible, adult lives. The backpacking trip is part of a gap year before they commit to adult responsibilities [7] Most backpackers take these trips during emerging adulthood, which is the developmental period that extends between the ages of 18 and 29 [8], a time when many young people remain dependent on their parents’ financial, concrete, and emotional support. During this period, emerging adults’ main developmental tasks involve identity formation and making decisions about their futures, tasks that they accomplish in part through an exploration of their options [8,9]. The backpacking trip constitutes an important part of the process of self-exploration that they undertake to discover what they would like to be and do in their “real” adult lives [10,11]
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