Understanding youth well-being in the family context: the role of democracy, warmth, and disclosure

ABSTRACT

This study applies a nonexperimental quantitative design to investigate youth well-being within the family context. Structural equation model analyses of information from 1883 seventh grade youths revealed: Democratic parenting (β = 0.43, p < .001), maternal warmth (β = 0.23, p < .001), and paternal warmth (β = 0.43, p < .05) were positively associated with youth disclosure, which in turn was associated with academic (β = 0.44, p < .001), emotional (β = 0.13, p < .05), and social (β = 0.43, p < .001) well-being the following year; paternal warmth and emotional well-being were directly linked (β = 0.16, p < .01); and youth disclosure and emotional well-being were associated stronger for girls (β = 0.33, p < .001) compared to boys (β = 0.11, p > .05). Future well-being research should consider parent–youth relationships, and youths could be involved in family policy-making and fostering supportive family environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth well-being
• family context
• parent–youth relationships
• youth disclosure
• democratic parenting
• parental warmth

Acknowledgments

The author thanks participating youths and their parents, as well as the administrative and healthcare staff of the participating schools in the KUPOL study. The author also wishes to thank Professor Rosaria Galanti for her support and for opening the door to KUPOL, and acknowledges the professional work of the KUPOL study’s experts and operative staff, in particular, Filip Andersson and Elin Arnö. The author also thanked Dr Kari Trost for her comments on earlier manuscript drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shahram Mansoory

Shahram Mansoory is a doctor of Child and Youth Studies. His research interests concern studying youth well-being by using both qualitative and quantitative research methods to further theoretical and empirical understanding of what well-being is in relation to youths and how it can be promoted.