According to the Theory of Change, the resilience of the family unit plays a crucial role in shaping the developmental trajectory of children. Families exhibiting higher levels of family resilience ...are typically characterized by transparent and effective communication, optimistic outlooks on adversity, adept problem-solving skills, strong spiritual beliefs, and effective management of social and financial resources. While existing research has indicated that parental and familial characteristics can predict diverse outcomes for children, investigations concerning the association between family resilience and children's subjective well-being remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether different dimensions of family resilience can predict changes in children's subjective well-being, tested one year later. The sample includes 762 child-mother-father triads (intact families). Children aged 9-13 years (48% boys, age = 11.04, SD = 1.16) assessed their life satisfaction, positive and negative affect in two study waves, while mothers and fathers assessed family resilience in the first wave. A dyadic data common fate model was employed to create latent variables representing family resilience. Three latent variables were: family problem-solving, family spirituality, and utilization of social and economic resources. Findings from the structural equation model indicated a positive association between higher levels of family problem-solving and increased children's life satisfaction, alongside a negative relationship between higher family spirituality and negative affect. Parental assessments of social and economic resources utilization were not uniquely related to children's life satisfaction, positive, or negative affect.
The transition from middle childhood to early adolescence is one of the crucial developmental periods for studying children’s subjective well-being (SWB). For developmental trends in SWB to be ...accurately estimated, it is necessary to demonstrate the measurement invariance of its measures. The first goal of this study was to explore the structure and measurement invariance with respect to age and gender of several common measures of child and adolescent subjective well-being. A tripartite higher-order model of subjective well-being was also tested, and its measurement invariance was investigated as well. Lastly, common sociodemographic (age and gender) and emotional (emotional clarity and regulation) correlates of SWB were investigated. Overall, 1534 children (
M
age
=10.53,
SD
= 1.15) gave data about their subjective well-being by filling out context-free and domain-based life satisfaction measures, and positive and negative affect questionnaires. Children also gave data on their emotional clarity and emotion regulation strategies usage. Measurement invariance was supported for all SWB measures, as well as for the tripartite higher-order model consisting of context-free life satisfaction, and negative and positive affect. Small gender and age differences were detected with boys and younger children having somewhat higher SWB on some of the measures included. Emotional clarity and emotion regulation consistently predicted all latent SWB measures while explaining quarter-to-half variance in SWB depending on the measure. Results show comparability of SWB structures across gender and age groups, and consistent links between SWB and emotional skills.
Tranzicija u adolescenciju donosi brojne promjene za djecu i adolescente. Adekvatno
razvijene emocionalne vještine nužne su za uspješno suočavanje s izazovima tog razdoblja.
Emocionalna jasnoća je ...emocionalna vještina koja se odnosi na razumijevanje vlastitih
emocija. Dosadašnja istraživanja pokazuju da su u adolescenciji prisutne spolne i dobne
razlike u izraženosti te vještine, no nije sasvim jasno kad se one javljaju. Cilj je ovog istraživanja
provjeriti strukturu Upitnika emocionalne jasnoće te istražiti postoje li spolne i
dobne razlike u emocionalnoj jasnoći u razdoblju koje obuhvaća period tranzicije u adolescenciju.
Istraživanje je provedeno u sklopu projekta Dobrobit djeteta u kontekstu obitelji
(CHILD-WELL) kojeg financira Hrvatska zaklada za znanost. U projektu je sudjelovalo 1548
djece koja pohađaju treći, četvrti, peti i šesti razred osnovne škole. U ovom istraživanju
korištena je skraćena verzija Upitnika emocionalne jasnoće na hrvatskom uzorku djece.
Djeca su također dala podatke o vlastitoj negativnoj emocionalnosti. Analize su pokazale
da je skraćena verzija Upitnika emocionalne jasnoće usporediva za dječake i djevojčice, te
za djecu u četvrtim, petim i šestim razredima osnovne škole. Nema značajnih dobnih razlika
u ovom razvojnom periodu. Međutim, postojale su konzistentne spolne razlike. Dječaci
su u odnosu na djevojčice iskazivali više razine emocionalne jasnoće od četvrtog do šestog
razreda. No, dodatnim ekploratornim analizima utvrđeno je da spolne razlike nisu prisutne
nakon kontrole dječje negativne emocionalnosti.
The transition to adolescence brings numerous changes for children and adolescents. Adequately developed emotional skills may be necessary for successful coping with the challenges of that period. ...Emotional clarity is an emotional skill defined as an understanding of one's own emotions. Previous research shows that there are gender and age differences in emotional clarity in adolescence, but it is not entirely clear when they occur. The aim of this research is to explore the structure of the Croatian version of the Emotional Clarity Questionnaire and to investigate whether there are gender and age differences in emotional clarity in the period of transition to adolescence. The research was conducted as part of the project titled: Child Well-being in the Family Context (CHILD-WELL), which is financed by the Croatian Science Foundation. 1,548 children attending the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of the primary school participated in the project. In this research, a shortened version of the Emotional Clarity Questionnaire was used on a Croatian sample of children. The children also provided information about their own negative emotionality. Analyzes showed that the shortened version of the Emotional Clarity Questionnaire is comparable for boys and girls, and for children in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades of elementary school. The results also showed that there are no significant age differences in this developmental period. However, there were consistent gender differences. Boys showed higher levels of emotional clarity than girls from fourth to sixth grade. However, additional exploratory analyzes revealed that gender differences are not present after controlling for children's negative emotionality.
The aim of this study is to analyze the well-being of individuals who had a newborn child during the previous year and to compare their well-being with that of individuals who had children previously ...and with childless individuals. The sample consisted of 2008 respondents (81% women) who participated in an online survey. Respondents rated their life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and flourishing in two time points spanning one year. 102 respondents experienced childbirth between the two time points, 673 had children before, and 1233 did not have children. The results show that life satisfaction increased between two time points in the subsample of individuals who had a child during the previous year; they also had higher life satisfaction compared to other parents and non-parents. There was no difference between the groups in affective well-being and flourishing. However, parents who had a newborn child showed a decrease in flourishing.
Research has shown links between emotion regulation strategies and child mental health. However, it is not well known how the characteristics of children may moderate these links. The aim of this ...study was to explore whether environmental sensitivity—the ability to perceive and process information about the environment—moderates links between emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and children’s emotional and behavioral problems. The study included 1381 children ( M
age
= 10.53, 51% girls) who gave information about their emotion regulation and environmental sensitivity, and whose teachers reported on their emotional and behavioral problems. The results showed that suppression predicted a higher amount of problems for girls regardless of their sensitivity level. For boys, environmental sensitivity moderated this link. Among more environmentally sensitive boys, the association between suppression usage and emotional and behavioral problems was stronger than among less sensitive boys. These results show that the effects of suppression may be exacerbated depending on the child’s gender and environmental sensitivity.
This study aims to explore the possibility of predicting changes in preadolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) indicators, namely life satisfaction (LS), positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), ...based on how often they engage in different activities using digital technology (DT). Exploratory, it examines whether gender and age moderate links between DT usage and well-being. The study is conducted using self-report measures at two time points, with one year apart. Participants were 1379 elementary school pupils from Croatia (48% were boys), aged from 8 to 13 (M = 11.03, SD = 1.14) at the first time point. LS was assessed using BMSLSS (Seligson et al., 2003). PA and NA were assessed using PANAS-C scale (Ebesutani et al., 2012). Finally, participants indicated how often they engage in different activities using digital technology: use of social media (using social networks, texting with friends, posting online), playing video games, and watching TV. Only social media use predicted a small decrease in LS one year later. Different types of DT use did not predict changes in PA. These models were the same for boys and girls, and for younger and older preadolescents. Changes in NA were not related to any of the DT predictors. However, differential effects were observed for boys and girls with playing video games emerging as a positive predictor of NA for girls only. All observed effects were very small. These findings point to the importance of evaluating individual contribution of different activities that preadolescents engage in with the use of digital technology to their SWB.
This study aims to explore the possibility of predicting changes in preadolescents’ subjective wellbeing (SWB)indicators, namely life satisfaction (LS), positive (PA) and negative affect(NA), based ...on how often they engage in different activities using digital technology (DT). Exploratory, it examines whether gender and age moderate links between DT usage and well-being. The study is conducted using self-report measures at two time points, with one year apart. Participants were 1379 elementary school pupils from Croatia (48% were boys), aged from 8 to 13 (M = 11.03, SD = 1.14) at the first time point. LS was assessed using BMSLSS (Seligson et al., 2003). PA and NA were assessed using PANAS-C scale (Ebesutani et al., 2012). Finally, participants indicated how often they engage in different activities using digital technology: use of social media (using social networks, texting with friends, posting online), playing video games, and watching TV. Only social media use predicted a small decrease in LS one year later. Different types of DT use did not predict changes in PA. These models were the same for boys and girls, and for younger and older preadolescents. Changes in NA were not related to any of the DT predictors. However, differential effects were observed for boys and girls with playing video games emerging as a positive predictor of NA for girls only. All observed effects were very small. These findings point to the importance of evaluating individual contribution of different activities that preadolescents engage in with the use of digital technology to their SWB.
This study aims to analyse parents’ perception of the pandemic’s impact on their daily lives, considering experienced stressful COVID-19-related events, and effect on the condition of family members. ...A total of 1072 triads (mother, father, and child) participated in the study. We assessed the perceived changes in daily lives due to the pandemic and the occurrence of seven stressful COVID-19 events (for both parents) and positive and negative affective states experienced in the last few weeks (for both parents and their children). Fathers who were prohibited from doing their job or experienced a decrease in income during the pandemic were more likely to perceive greater negative changes in the quality of their daily lives. Mothers’ perception of negative changes was associated with decreased income, death of a close person, self-isolation and the father’s negative affect. Personal or child experience of the COVID-19 infection did not contribute to the explanation of the variance of perceived deterioration in daily lives in none of the samples.
