Cultural Meanings that Mediate Life Satisfaction in Chilean Children and Adolescents

Valle, Lorena Ramírez Casas del; Àlvarez, Verònica; Vera, Gabriel Urzúa; Acosta, Francisca Valdebenito

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55601-7_7

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…Children's expectations predict higher educational attainment (Wood et al, ), including among racial and ethnic minority children's (Roche et al, ; Wood et al, ); indeed, children's expectations could be one of the most important predictors of one's social status and educational attainment (Schneider & Stevenson, ). Ash and Huebner () found that expectations among early adolescents were positively associated with their life satisfaction but differed according to their background characteristics; indeed, other research has found that adolescents' expectations and goals are related to their life satisfaction at varying degrees and through different paths according to socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds (del Valle, Álvarez, Vera, & Acosta, ). In short, variations aside, when children have greater educational expectations, they acquire higher levels of education in their lives and perform better academically, even after controlling for environmental and familial characteristics (Alexander et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Parents' Educational Expectations in Adolescence Predict Adult Life Satisfaction?

et al. 2018

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Objective To examine the extent to which parents' educational expectations for adolescents are associated with children's life satisfaction in adulthood and whether that association is mediated by adolescents' individual characteristics. Background Life satisfaction is acknowledged to be an important goal in a child's developmental path. However, less is known about the long‐term influence of parental expectations on adolescents' positive life outcomes and how functioning in adolescents aside from parental expectations is related to these long‐term associations. Method Using data from the 2 cohorts of high school students and their parents who participated in the Longitudinal Study of American Youth from 1991 to 2010 (N = 2,289), direct and indirect paths from parental expectations to adulthood life satisfaction were tested within the structural equation modeling framework. Results Parents' higher educational expectations for adolescents were positively related to their children's life satisfaction 2 decades later via children's expectations, self‐esteem, and educational attainment. Parents' expectations were associated with higher self‐esteem in the adolescent years through adolescents' expectations, which ultimately predicted adolescents' life satisfaction as adults. Conclusion The level of expectations parents have for their children are related to their adolescents' life satisfaction 2 decades later, perhaps because expectations are associated with adolescents' educational attainment and self‐esteem. Implications Family practitioners and educators are encouraged to educate adolescents' parents about the link between their educational expectations and long‐term educational attainment and life satisfaction for their children in adulthood.

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