Determinants of parenting, family relationships and childrens well-being

Proponents of positive psychology emphasize the importance of perceived quality of life as the main component of subjective well-being. Family relationships are among the most important correlates of the perceived quality of life of adolescents. Previous research has largely focused on the impact of living in different types of families on children’s development, or on the connection between parenting styles and children’s psychosocial adaptation, where the emphasis was on problems in adaptation, and not on positive indicators of child development. Less is known about the determinants of parental behavior, and the active role of children in socialization processes has also been neglected. The goal of this research is to examine the relationship between family characteristics, parenting practices and individual characteristics of children with measures of general psychosocial well-being and specific aspects of the quality of life of adolescents, their school achievement and socio-emotional adjustment. The second goal is to develop reliable and valid positive indicators of development and to examine which factors promote positive development and contribute to the resistance of at-risk groups of adolescents to negative environmental influences. Differences in family structure and related differences in socio-economic status are expected to affect the well-being and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents by changing the well-being of parents and their relationships with their children. The role of individual characteristics of children as protective factors that change the effects of family relationships and parental upbringing on the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents will also be examined. The research will be conducted with a representative sample of adolescents aged 12 to 18 and their parents. For the purposes of the research, a questionnaire will be constructed and measuring instruments will be applied to measure the characteristics of the family and family relationships (financial difficulties, parental stress and depression, parents’ quality of life, family cohesion, parenting procedures), the subjective well-being of adolescents (satisfaction in different areas of life, positive and negative feelings, perceived quality of life at school), individual characteristics of children (self-esteem, temperament), children’s behavior and adaptation (prosocial behavior, school achievement, internalized and externalized problems). The results of the research will provide a better knowledge of the determinants of parenting and the positive aspects of adolescent development in the current social context.