Effects of Income and Material Deprivation on Children’s Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Longitudinal Data for England (2009–2018)

A plethora of research shows that income is an important factor in adult’s life satisfaction, but research ascertaining its importance for children’s life satisfaction is scant. Using a largescale nationally representative longitudinal survey with children aged 10–15, we estimate comprehensive life satisfaction models that account for heterogeneity in exogenous circumstances in children’s lives, focussing on family income and material deprivation. We find empirical support for the hypothesis that children are more satisfied with their lives, the more income their family has and the less material deprivation they experience throughout their teens. There are, however, differences across age groups with children aged 12–15 experiencing greater life satisfaction losses on account of lower family material wellbeing than younger children. Overall, income effects for older children are small but statistically significant when accounting for unobserved individual differences.

Parental Migration, Parental Emotional Support, and Adolescent Children’s Life Satisfaction in Rural China: The Roles of Parent and Child Gender

Previous literature on transnational families has raised concerns about the subjective well-being of left-behind children affected by different parental migration arrangements. From a gender perspective that considers both the parent’s gender and the child’s gender, this study reexamines the associations between parental migration arrangements and adolescent children’s life satisfaction, and then investigates how such associations vary by parental emotional support. Drawing on data gathered from 1,741 adolescent students in rural areas of Hunan province, China, the study shows that maternal migration and both-parent migration pose emotional challenges to adolescent children, although the former is only negatively associated with girls’ life satisfaction. In addition, emotional support from staying-behind fathers is found able to moderate the emotional costs of being separated from migrant mothers, but then only for boys. Findings reveal the roles of parent and child gender in the “migration–left behind nexus.”

Social Relationships, Child Poverty, and Children’s Life Satisfaction

Child subjective well-being is determined by various personal, social, and contextual factors. Few studies have found reliable differences in the prediction power of these factors; however, the results vary especially when it comes to sociodemographic factors, such as the effect of child’s socioeconomic background on life satisfaction. This paper examines how poverty and social relationships affect the perceived life satisfaction of Finnish schoolchildren. Drawing on survey data of Finnish schoolchildren, from grades 5, 7, and 9 (n = 1793), linear regression was used to test how life satisfaction would be associated with socio-demographic variables, poverty, and child–parent and peer relationships. The results emphasize the complex nature of the determinants of children’s life satisfaction. The greatest unique contribution for change of life satisfaction was made by the time spent with mother (β(p) = 0.189). Overall, the model showed a good fit (R2 19.9). These findings have important implications for family policies and services that promote good parenting and positive parent–child relationships. Furthermore, this study highlights relational well-being as a key determinant of children’s life satisfaction.