Parental Subjective Well-being Research Articles

가정에서의 긍정적 행동지원을 위한 강점기반 부모교육 프로그램 개발 및 효과 검증 연구

The purpose of this study is to develop, implement, evaluate a strength-based parent training program for positive behavior support for families. A total of nine parents of children with developmental disabilities aged between six and 12 participated in this study. The program consists of 10 sessions and incorporates the procedures of Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Families(PTR-F), along with practical exercises in positive psychotherapy and techniques from solution-focused counseling as components. By reviewing the delivery methods of evidence-based parent training programs for children with developmental disabilities developed in foreign countries, the program integrates both collective instructional sessions and personalized guidance; it also facilitates parental implementation via online coaching. To evaluate the impact of the program on parental efficacy in behavior support, the subjective well-being of parents, the positive perceptions of parenting children with disabilities of parents, as well as the adaptive behavior of children with developmental disabilities, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were utilized to measure changes from pre- to post-test for each dependent variable. The results of this study revealed statistically significant differences in all dependent variables both before and after implementing the program. Along with the discussion of the research results, significance and limitations of the study, as well as suggestions for future studies were presented.

Towards an emotive-relational model of FLP: mapping the connections between family language policy and parental wellbeing

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the emotive-relational dimensions of family language policy (FLP), in the context of Hungarian families in Australia. The study explored parental experiences of family language policy implementation efforts and challenges. The research used an online survey (N = 80) which collected quantitative and qualitative data. Survey data were analysed using SPSS software to generate descriptive and t-test statistics. The results demonstrate that parents experienced emotional challenges around all three elements of family language policies: (i) ideologies; (ii) language practices and (iii) language management. This paper identifies six main emotive-relational dimensions of FLP: (i) linguistic-ideological, (ii) discursive; (iii) personal/relational; (iv) socio-relational; (v) agentive and (vi) pragmatic. The methods and the results of this study can be useful for researchers investigating the interconnectedness of language maintenance and parental subjective wellbeing. The findings inform current theoretical models and methods of researching family language policy and its complex dimensions. This paper concludes with an empirically tested emotive-relational model of FLP, which informs future research directed at exploring the emotional aspects of FLP from parents’ point of view as language planners.

Family Economic Status, Resilience, and Subjective Well-being Of Parents Whose Children Have Autism Spectrum Disorder

We examined the relationship between family economic status and subjective well-being in a sample of 126 parents whose children have autism spectrum disorder, and also assessed the mediating role of parents' resilience. Participants completed the Family Economic Status Questionnaire, the Resilience Questionnaire, and the Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire. The results showed that family economic status was significantly associated with parents' subjective well-being, and that resilience significantly mediated this relationship. These findings provide novel evidence of the psychological mechanism of how family economic status affects subjective well-being, and contribute to understanding of how family economic status is associated with subjective well-being among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. Our findings indicate that developing interventions to improve resilience is a practical way to reduce the impact of family economic status on the subjective well-being of parents whose children have autism spectrum disorder.

The Relationship between Parental Subjective Well-being and Parenting Concept: The Mediating Role of Rumination

The Relationship between Parental Subjective Well-being and Parenting Concept: The Mediating Role of Rumination

Intervention strategies promoting parental subjective well-being: an integrative review

Intervention strategies promoting parental subjective well-being: an integrative review

The Relationship between Childcare Services Participation and Parental Subjective Well-Being under China’s Three-Child Policy—Based on the Mediation Effect of Parenting Stress

This study examined the relationship between children’s participation in childcare services from birth to 3 years of age and their parents’ subjective well-being, as well as the mediating role of parenting stress. In total, 990 parents of children aged 0–3 years from Beijing were surveyed. First, independent samples t-tests after propensity score matching revealed that parents who participated in childcare services may have significantly higher overall subjective well-being and life satisfaction than those who did not participate. Second, a descriptive analysis and an analysis of variance results indicated that remote location, low quality, and high price may be the major reasons for parents’ dissatisfaction with childcare services, and a regression analysis of childcare dissatisfaction showed that high-priced childcare services had a significant negative relationship with parent’s subjective well-being. Third, the results of a mediation analysis of parenting stress revealed that childcare services have significant direct effects on parents’ subjective well-being, and a small mediating effect of parenting stress on parent’s childcare service participation and parental subjective well-being. The findings demonstrate the importance of childcare services, especially for the provision of affordable childcare to improve parents’ subjective well-being and relieving pressure on parents.

The Effect of Social Benefit Reform on Educational Inequality

Abstract Cross-country research argues that the design of welfare states and social protection systems shapes the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Studies that examine this relationship within a country are however lacking from the literature. Based on a quasi-experimental research design using difference-in-differences estimation and data from the Socio-Economic Panel, I analyse whether the educational disadvantage of children of long-term unemployment assistance recipients increased after changes to eligibility criteria, benefit levels, and conditionality were introduced in Germany in 2005. I find that differences in the probability to enter the academic secondary school track between children of parents receiving long-term unemployment assistance one year before the transition and children of parents not receiving unemployment or social benefits increased by 13 percentage points. In part, this was driven by the introduction of means-testing that changed the composition of unemployment assistance recipients. However, further decreases in the financial conditions of these already disadvantaged families following reductions in benefit levels appear as the main driver of the observed effect. Changes in parental subjective wellbeing due to increased benefit conditionality and stigma do not seem to play a significant mediating role. The findings highlight the important contribution of social policy to social mobility and equality of opportunity.

Parental experiences of subjective well-being in the context of infant sleep problems

ABSTRACT Objective This study explored parental experiences of subjective well-being in the context of infant sleep problems. Background Although quantitative research has highlighted the deleterious impact of infant sleep problems for parental well-being broadly, little is known about subjective experiences of well-being specifically. Method This retrospective qualitative study formed part of a larger multiphase project. Ten parents who approached a sleep consultancy for assistance with infant sleep problems participated in the study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and results were analysed thematically. Results Two key themes were identified: (1) the negative influences of insufficient sleep on parental subjective well-being, and (2) the indirect influence of infant sleep problems on parental subjective well-being. Participants highlighted the direct influence of insufficient sleep on their life satisfaction, affect and mood. Further, through its impact on infant well-being and behaviour, and the loss of free time, infant sleep problems indirectly negatively influenced parental subjective well-being. As a result, life satisfaction and affect was deleteriously influenced. Conclusion Parental subjective well-being may be deleteriously influenced by infant sleep problems, both directly through insufficient sleep and indirectly through the impact of infant sleep problems.

Subjective Well-Being and Schools in South Africa: A Post-COVID-19 Analysis.

From the analysis of the Wave 5 National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey 2021 dataset, the study conducted in South Africa, we developed a model of analysis based on three dimensions, namely, subjective well-being, material living conditions, and importance attributed to education during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional analysis of the data for Gauteng area indicates that the dimension of subjective well-being of families in South Africa—even in relation to the factors such as conditions of deprivation (e.g., hunger)—does not necessarily influence the importance the respondents attach to their children’s education, this as reflected in whether or not they send them to school when COVID-19 restrictions allowed for schools to come back to face-to-face teaching. Subjective well-being of parents and guardians is, however, a predictor of concern about their children’s education and future. Our working hypothesis is that, although there is little evidence that subjective well-being has a significant association with the respondents’ willingness for their children to continue their schooling, there is a significant indirect effect of subjective well-being—which is especially determined by the gender as well as of the living material conditions—and the greater or lesser importance that the respondents attribute to their children’s education. Likewise, and in more general terms, subjective well-being is clearly related to gender, with women having the lowest levels of subjective well-being.

Qualitative Investigation into Pre- and Post-Natal Experience of Parents of Triplets

Although parents of triplets experience substantial mental distress, research about this increasing population has primarily focused on physical health risks of triplets and mothers, failing to capture the subjective wellbeing of parents. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand first-hand experience of parents of triplets, using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews participated by eight parents (four couples: Age M = 48.63, SD = 10.61 years). Six themes were identified: (1) Negative and (2) Positive experiences of raising triplets prenatally and postnatally, (3) Social, psychological, and material support, (4) Experiences and challenges specific to mothers and (5) fathers, and (6) Advice for future parents. These themes suggest that being reassured and accepting support from others are particularly essential in reducing stress and anxiety. Self-compassion interventions were recommended to support the wellbeing of parents of triplets. Our findings will help parents of triplets, their social circles, and healthcare workers to develop effective approaches to reduce the mental health difficulties that this under-researched population experiences.

Children's marriage and parental subjective well-being: Evidence from China

The marriage of children is a milestone event in parenthood, while how parents' well-being evolves around the time children get married is limitedly understood. This paper examines the relationship between children's marriage and parents' subjective well-being. Using China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, we find that parental subjective well-being is positively associated with children's marriage. An examination of the underlying mechanisms shows that, first, children's marriage can significantly enhance parents' sense of security in old-age care and their confidence in the future. Second, the older the unmarried children are, the more anxious the parents who hold stronger traditional ideology will be. Third, parents will increase their consumption expenditure after their children get married; and compared with daughters, sons' marriages have a stronger effect on parental well-being. These findings reveal that parental economic pressure due to China's biased sex ratio and marriage squeeze is relieved after their children's marriage.

Social contact, time alone, and parental subjective well-being: A focus on stay-at-home fathers using the American Time Use Survey.

Social contact, time alone, and parental subjective well-being: A focus on stay-at-home fathers using the American Time Use Survey.

Parental subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 lockdown: Evidence from the epicenter of a pandemic crisis

IntroductionThe Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health emergency has led national states to adopt severe actions forcing many people to cope with new and unexpected challenges. Those constraints risked to jeopardized the mental health and subjective wellbeing (SWB) of individuals.ObjectivesThe present cross-sectional quantitative study explored whether and to what extent psychological and social aspects were determinants of parental SWB as outcome variable during the COVID-19 lockdown.MethodsThe sample was composed of 304 Italian parents (93% female, mean age 41.5, 91% from Lombardy). Data were gathered through Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) four weeks after the beginning of the national lockdown. World Health Organization (WHO) wellbeing scale along with other self-reported measures of social support, feelings of abandonment, feeling of being equipped and adequacy of living spaces were administered. Data were analyzed by hierarchical regression models (Ethics Committee of Milano-Bicocca University approval N.0034537/20)ResultsAccording to the WHO cutoff score, 37.7% of parents reported low well-being levels. The regression model (F=11.2, p<.001) suggested that the feeling of abandonment and the feeling of being equipped were the most important contributors to SWB. Other statistically significant (but with lower effect sizes) variables were the support received by the partner and the adequacy of living spaces.ConclusionsThe findings bear out the pivotal importance of subjective states (such as feelings of abandonment or perceptions of being poorly equipped) in relation to the levels of parental SWB during the COVID-19 lockdown. Implications for planning psychological interventions aimed at strengthening personal resources to face the emergency are discussed.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Adult Children’s Education Attainment and Parents’ Subjective Well-Being in China

Parent-child tie is important for parental later life due to insufficient old-age support in developing contexts. Parents often anticipate they would share the returns of children’s education for their early period investment. Previous studies show that adult children’s education is positively associated with parents’ survival and physical health in both low- and middle-income countries. What’s less discussed in literatures is the effect of adult children’s education on parental subjective wellbeing. Drawing the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study intends to explore the effect of adult children’s education attainment on parents’ life satisfaction. This study uses information from baseline wave in 2011 and latest wave in 2015 of CHARLS. The analytic sample restricts to adult children aged between 25 and 49 with the highest education among all children of a parent who are aged between 50 and 84. To handle the reversed causality, this study adopts lagged effect model and controls for baseline subjective wellbeing. Instrumental variables (IV) are also used to handle the endogeneity issue existing between children’s education and parental wellbeing to conclude a causal effect. The preliminary results without IV reveal that association between children’s schooling years and parents’ life satisfaction is non-linear. However, results with IV show that adult children’s schooling years are negative associated with parents’ life satisfaction. This study firstly draws attention on negative sides of children’s education attainment on parental subjective wellbeing which implies more studies to unfold the mechanisms underlying the association.

Supplemental Material for Social Contact, Time Alone, and Parental Subjective Well-Being: A Focus on Stay-at-Home Fathers Using the American Time Use Survey

Supplemental Material for Social Contact, Time Alone, and Parental Subjective Well-Being: A Focus on Stay-at-Home Fathers Using the American Time Use Survey

Is Children’s Academic Performance Valuable to Parents? Linking Children’s Effort Vs. Results and Fathers’ Vs. Mothers’ Subjective Well-Being

In today’s modern society, the economic value of children to parents has generally decreased. Instead, given the expansion of education and emphasis on educational success, the cost of raising children has increased considerably. To increase their children’s chances for upward social mobility, parents are investing much more in children’s education than before. However, although it is widely known that having school-aged children increases parental anxiety, little is known about how children’s academic performance is associated with parental psychological well-being. Using data from the 2010 and 2012 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we examine how children’s academic performance is linked to parental subjective well-being, which is measured by life satisfaction and depression symptoms. We find that both children’s learning effort and academic results are significantly associated with parental well-being when examining them separately, but the statistical significance of effort disappears when we put both in the depression model, despite that such offset effect is not obvious in the life satisfaction model. This indicates that Chinese parents tend to value the results more than the effort. The analysis by parental gender further shows that both effort and academic results are associated with mothers’ well-being, but for fathers, only results matter. Our study adds to the literature on how school-aged children’s academic performance may be associated with middle-aged parents’ well-being, extending the understanding of the value of children to parents.

Leisure and subjective well-being of parents of Korean transnational-split families

This study examined leisure and subjective well-being (SWB) of Korean transnational-split families (KTSF) who live in Korea and the U.S. Using data collected from an online survey, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test seven hypotheses related to the affective components of the SWB of KTSF. Income, frequency of family communication, marital satisfaction, and the size of leisure repertoire were significantly associated with the positive affect of KTSF. The amount of leisure time and the frequency of leisure involvement were not significant. Two regression models were tested to understand the differential validity of the time and frequency of six different types of leisure activities on positive affect. The leisure time and frequency of Hobbies and Other Activities were significant, while other activity types were not. These findings were discussed in light of the existing SWB and transnationalism literature, the qualitative aspects of leisure experience, and the life circumstances of KTSF.

Happiness Under One Roof? The Intergenerational Co-residence and Subjective Well-Being of Elders in China

This study investigates the relationship between intergenerational co-residence and the subjective well-being (SWB) of elders based on the individual-level panel data collected from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey from 2002 to 2014. We use the endogenous treatment effect model to minimize selection bias and estimate the causal impacts of intergenerational co-residence on parental SWB. In addition, we employ the individual fixed-effect model for robustness checks. Results corroborate that elders who live with their adult–children are happier than those who do not undergo such a living arrangement. We also investigate heterogeneous effects across geographical regions and demographic groups. Older people in rural areas who co-reside with their adult–children gain a more substantial co-residence effect compared with those in urban areas. Moreover, results are robust according to different specifications. Our findings provide useful implications for policymakers in promoting the SWB of elders.

The Impact of Publicly Funded Childcare on Parental Well-Being: Evidence from Cut-Off Rules.

As more and more countries consider expanding public childcare provision, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of its implications for families. This article adds to the existing literature by investigating the effect of publicly funded childcare on parental subjective well-being. To establish causality, I exploit cut-off rules introduced following the implementation of a legal claim to childcare in Germany. The results suggest that childcare provision strongly increases the life satisfaction of mothers who were previously constrained by the lack of childcare supply. The effect is more pronounced for mothers with higher labour market attachment. The coefficients for fathers are smaller and not statistically significant. As potential mechanisms, a wide range of time-use and labour market outcomes are explored. This shows that mothers indeed shift time from non-market activities to formal work in response to childcare eligibility, resulting in direct and indirect pecuniary and non-pecuniary returns to maternal life satisfaction. The findings shed light on key issues of work-family reconciliation and stress the importance of considering subjective well-being measures in family policy evaluations.

Job insecurity and parental well-being: The role of parenthood and family factors

Background: The consequences of job loss for subjective well-being are widely known. Yet, the subjective well-being of parents who fear that they might lose their jobs has received much less attention. Objective: We analyze how changes in job insecurity are associated with parental subjective well-being. We further provide insight into the impact of parenthood and varying childbearing demands, as well as potential accumulative dynamics. Methods: Using data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) (2000–2016; N = 7,167), we apply fixed-effects models to estimate deviations of well-being from the individual-specific mean. Our analytic sample comprises a total of 43,276 person years. Results: We replicate the overall well-being response surrounding the experiences of job insecurity and unemployment, and we provide evidence for variation in subjective well-being over the parental life-cycle. Conclusions: The divergence in the well-being responses around raising a newborn or infant versus older children may affect fertility timing and the optimal number of children to have. The results also reveal gender-specific effects and hint at the new role of women in paid labor, but they indicate that the ‘old’ role of men as breadwinners has not changed dramatically. Contribution: We suggest that how people cope with job insecurity and unemployment depends on individual characteristics and less so on the joys or challenges of parenthood. This is consistent with the fertility behavior that emerged in developed countries during the second demographic transition.