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Parental Educational Practices and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Positive Affect and Agreeableness in Adolescents

Authors Mercader-Rubio I, Oropesa-Ruiz NF , Gutiérrez Ángel N , Carrión-Martínez JJ

Received 5 September 2022

Accepted for publication 10 December 2022

Published 13 January 2023 Volume 2023:16 Pages 119—131

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S387768

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2

Editor who approved publication: Dr Igor Elman



Isabel Mercader-Rubio, Nieves-Fátima Oropesa-Ruiz, Nieves Gutiérrez Ángel, José Juan Carrión-Martínez

Department of Psychology, University of Almería, Almería, Spain

Correspondence: Nieves-Fátima Oropesa-Ruiz; Nieves Gutiérrez Ángel, Email [email protected]; [email protected]

Introduction: Researchers have investigated the external elements that can condition a person’s satisfaction with life, although it has been proven that they do not explain a large part of the phenomenon. For this reason, other variables such as perceived competence, personality styles and personal autonomy are being investigated more successfully. The main objective of this paper is to study the influence of parental educational practices on adolescent life satisfaction considering the role played by adolescent’s positive affect and the agreeableness personality trait by implementing a statistical Mediation Model that explains such relationship.
Methods: The population sample is a total of 742 Spanish adolescents, of which 45.1% were boys and 51.5% were girls. The age ranged between 13 and 19 years (15.63, SD = 1.24).
Results: The results revealed that the relationship between parental educational practices and life satisfaction in adolescence was mediated by positive affect and the personality trait of agreeableness. Both variables did act as serial mediators in this relationship. On the other hand, the serial multiple mediation structural model explained 31.72% of the variability in life satisfaction for the dimension of affection and communication and promotion of autonomy, 29.70% for the psychological control dimension, 26.58% for self-disclosure and 28.21% for the humor dimension of parental educational practices.
Conclusion: These findings have important implications to understand the relationship between parental educational practices and the adolescent life satisfaction, indicating that different parental educational practices will have a positive or negative effect on adolescent positive affect, which will lead to increased or decreased agreeableness influencing the adolescent life satisfaction.

Keywords: adolescence, parenting practices, personality, subjective well-being

Introduction

Family Context and Adolescent Well-Being

The family context is an essential area for the development and well-being of adolescents that is conceptualized as the space that any human being requires to learn, grow, and develop.1,2 The family is the first reference group that people have and where the first knowledge and interactions with society are developed and it is in it that the roles to follow in future social relationships are established.3–5 It can be considered that the family is the union of people who develop feelings of belonging through their relationships and bonds of reciprocity and independence among the members.6,7 The family is a key context for working on emotions, and spaces for communication must be created within it.8

In addition, according to Oliva and Villa,9 the family interpersonal commitments are built among its members and a life project is shared. In this sense, the family has the task of developing in children the skills that allow them to face the various social environments that are presented to them.10 As a social group, it transmits beliefs, values, norms, as well as ways of dealing with the problems of daily life, hence the type of relationships that unfold between family members become an indicator of how those relationships will be projected with other members of the society.11

Parental educational practices, which are established among its members, from an early age, influence the different stages of life. When this relationship is conflictive, it hinders the psychosocial and emotional development of the subject. When it is positive, it allows emotional maturity and better development in the areas of their lives, both social, school and work.12–14 Adolescents who develop in a positive climate feel integrated and adapted in society.15 Therefore, it will be the parents who must promote peace and tolerance in their children, establish laws in the family and the roles inside.16

Parental educational styles are behavioral schemes that simplify parenting and parental education guidelines in certain dimensions that give rise to diverse and varied types of education.17–20 In the scientific literature reviewed on parental educational styles, when it is based on affection and secure attachment, it promotes the development of social skills and with-it positive relationships with peers and, in turn, decreases the probability of behavioral problems.21 However, the absence or excessive supervision and protection of children by their parents has been linked to the emergence of inappropriate behaviors at different stages of development.18,22

The dimension of affection, according to Altschul23 regarding parental educational styles, refers to support and affection in the relationship, as well as the acceptance of the feelings and behaviors of the children and the responsiveness of the parents and how are they involved in their activities. This dimension is cataloged in some research as acceptance, warmth, attention, care or support. Some studies also investigate the opposite pole of this dimension: rejection, criticism, hostility, or negativity.24–27

Oliva et al19 differentiates between six dimensions in the configuration of different parenting styles: behavioral control (understood as the use of negotiation and discipline in setting limits), promotion of autonomy (as demands of maturity), affection and communication (relationship based on sensitivity, respect and active listening), self-disclosure (spontaneous communication), humor (or optimism about life) and psychological control (relationship based on blaming and ridicule). The dimensions of affection and communication and self-disclosure have been found to be positively related to life satisfaction, unlike psychological control, which has been negatively related to life satisfaction.28 On the other hand, in the work of Pérez-Fuentes et al29 the perception by adolescents of high levels of affection and communication, self-disclosure and sense of humor in family dynamics, as well as low levels of psychological control, explained 23.1% of the variability of their life satisfaction. Likewise, studies that analyze the relationship between parental educational styles and life satisfaction show that when parents use democratic and permissive educational styles, life satisfaction of adolescents improves.30,31

Relevant Variables in Life Satisfaction: The Role of Agreeableness and Positive Affect

Regarding life satisfaction, the work of researchers in positive psychology is highly relevant.32–36 The concept of life satisfaction is interpreted as the comprehensive evaluation that people make of their quality of life with family and friends.37,38 It has a cognitive component that refers to subjective well-being,39–42 and it is interpreted as the degree that a person evaluates the comprehensive quality of his life in a positive way.43 Related to the above, young people with higher life satisfaction also experience more positive emotions.44

In general terms, different papers have investigated the study of the elements that can condition satisfaction with life. In this sense, some researchers have focused on factors external to the person, such as the economy, although it has been proven that they do not explain a large part of the phenomenon.45,46 For some time, other variables such as perceived competence, personality styles and personal autonomy have been investigated.47–49 According to Noriega et al,50 in line with this, the basis of life satisfaction is in the perception that the person has of himself and the environment in which he lives, so these self-perceptions and personality traits will be crucial to determine it. For all these reasons, personality is a fundamental variable in this research. To measure the personality, the theoretical model of personality, also known as the Big Five Inventory (BFI), was used, a scale developed by John et al.51 It consists of eight elements with a Likert-type response format. When translated into Spanish, the Spanish version published by Benet-Martínez and John52 gains importance, since it has been applied without modifications, both in Perú53 and in México.54

In this context, one of the most relevant factors for this study, as mentioned above, is the agreeableness dimension, since it is considered fundamental in the study of prosocial attitudes towards others, which includes traits such as altruism, tenderness, trust and modesty. Agreeableness has an important relationship with well-being and discomfort perceived by people.55 Similarly, the agreeableness dimension alludes to pleasantness and friendliness,56 so this scale is made up of two subdimensions: Cooperation/empathy, to measure the ability of the subject of listening to the needs and problems of others, as well as establishing cooperation with them, and Cordiality/kindness, to measure aspects related to affability, trust and openness towards others.57

Different authors have analyzed the role of personality in predicting prosocial behavior, considering it as a synonym of socialization.58 Thus, authors such as Caprara et al59 have provided studies where agreeableness has been found to be the greatest determinant of prosocial behavior, a relationship that was also found in the study by Graziano et al.60 Iacovella et al61 subsequently confirmed what was found by Caprara et al59 mentioned above, in the sense that agreeableness can be a predictor of prosocial behavior. Likewise, agreeableness has been positively related to positive affect62,63 and life satisfaction.64

As it is noticeable in the aforementioned background, studies that analyze the interrelation between parental educational practices, life satisfaction, positive affect and the personality trait of agreeableness together are practically non-existent. Based on the above, the main objective of this paper is to study the influence of parental educational practices on adolescent life satisfaction with regard to the role played in this relationship by both positive affect and agreeableness from the formulation of a predictive model of multiple mediation. With this, it is intended to expand the studies on structural models in the analysis of adolescent subjective well-being, particularly, with respect to life satisfaction.

In this way, following the previous theoretical reflections, the main research objectives are formulated below: (1) To analyze the relationships established between parental educational practices, life satisfaction, positive affect and the personality trait of agreeableness in a sample of adolescents; (2) To explore the mediating effect of positive affect and agreeableness in the relationship between parental educational practices and life satisfaction in adolescence. Our mediational hypothesis is that the different parental educational practices will cause a positive or negative effect on positive affect, which will lead to an increase or decrease in agreeableness, which will encourage, in turn, the adolescent to experience greater or lesser satisfaction with the life (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Hypothesized model of multiple serial mediation.

Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Method

Participants

The total number of participants amounted to 742, being a very similar sample in both sexes, 46.7% boys and 53.3% girls, whose ages were between 13 and 19 years old (M = 15.63, SD = 1.244), and residents in the province of Almeria, Spain. Regarding the level of schooling, 68.6% of the total was enrolled in middle school and 31.4% in high school.

Instruments

Parental Style Scale65 is adapted from the original questionnaire by Oliva et al.19 The scale is made up of 24 items to which adolescents must answer on a scale of 1 to 4, being (1) “totally false” and (4) “totally true”. It assesses the adolescent’s perception of the educational style used by parents grouped into six dimensions: affection and communication (α = 0.84) (ie: “When I talk to my parents, they show interest and attention”, “My parents encourage me to tell them about my problems and concerns”), promotion of autonomy (α = 0.81) (ie: “My parents think that even though I am not yet an adult, I can have good ideas”, “My parents encourage me to make my own decisions”), behavioral control (α = 0.68) (ie: “My parents try to know where I am going when I go out”, “If I come home late, my parents ask me why and who I was with”), psychological control (α = 0.71) (ie: “My parents make me feel guilty when I don’t do what they want”, “My parents tell me that they are right and I shouldn’t contradict them”), self-disclosure (α = 0.80) (ie: “I tell my parents what I do in my free time”, “I talk to my parents about the problems I have with my friends”) and humor (α = 0.81) (ie: “My parents are almost always happy and optimistic people”, “My parents often joke with me”). The internal reliability indices of the original scale range between 0.80 and 0.92.65 It is used as an instrument with adequate psychometric properties in the evaluation of family dynamics8 (Oropesa, 2022).

Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (SWLS).66 It offers a global score on the cognitive judgments that the person has about satisfaction with their own life (it is not a measure of positive or negative affect). It is made up of 5 statements of the type: “In most ways my life is close to my ideal”, “The conditions of my life are excellent”, “I am satisfied with my life”, “So far I have gotten the important things I want in life”, “If I could live my life over”, “I would change almost nothing”, to which adolescents must respond on a scale of 1 to 7 that ranges from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. In this work, an internal consistency of α= 0.84 is reached. Cronbach’s alpha value for the original scale was 0.87.66 Other studies also obtain optimal internal consistency and reliability indices for the adolescent population.67,68

Positive Affect Schedule. In this study, the positive affect scale of the Spanish adaptation PANASN for children and adolescents was used, which is a version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) of Watson et al.69 This test was elaborated by Sandín in 1997.70 The PANASN is a questionnaire 20-item self-report. In this work, we have analyzed the data of the positive affect scale, made up of 10 items (ie, “I am interested in people or things, I am a lively person, I usually get emotional, I feel that I have vitality or energy”), expressed on a Likert-type scale from 1 to 3, where 1 = never, 2 = sometimes, and 3 = many times. The alpha index has been adequate (α = 0.758). In the original test, α = 0.73 alpha for boys and α = 0.72 for girls was obtained.70

Agreeableness. The Big Five Inventory Agreeableness scale (BFI)51,71 was used. Its scale is made up of 9 items, which are answered in a scale 5-point Likert type, where 1 = totally in disagree and 5 = totally agree. Agreeableness refers to attitudes prosocial towards the rest such as altruism, tenderness, trust, and modesty (ie, “Is helpful and unselfish with others”; “Has a forgiving nature”; “Is generally trusting”). In the study, the reliability of the scale was acceptable (α = 0.606). Regarding the reliability of the original scale, an optimal Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was obtained, whose value was 0.79.71 The scale sample adequate properties psychometric tests with samples of young people and adults.52,72

Procedure

For data collection, the directors of different Secondary Education centers were contacted. We informed them about the objectives, methods, use of the data and the dates and times for the administration of the questionnaires that were agreed. The confidentiality and anonymity of the information provided by the students was maintained. Following the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki, informed consent was obtained from parents/guardians and participants. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Almería (Ref: UALBIO2022/031).

Statistic Analysis

The data were analyzed using version 27 of the statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and through version 4.1 of the PROCESS macro.73,74 Bivariate descriptive and correlational analysis were performed between the study variables using Pearson’s r Correlation coefficient. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was interpreted as follows: r = 0.10 and r = 0.23 small effect size, r = 0.24 and r = 0.36 medium effect size, r = 0.37 or more large effect size.75 Subsequently, the multiple mediation model was calculated for the relationship between parental educational practices and life satisfaction, introducing positive affect and agreeableness as mediating variables, using PROCESS model 6.76 Confidence intervals have been calculated based on 10,000 samples.

Results

Descriptive and Correlational Analysis

Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations and Pearson correlations for the variables studied. Pearson’s correlation analyzes showed that life satisfaction correlated positively with affect and communication (r = 0.445, p < 0.01), autonomy promotion (r = 0.388, p < 0.01), self-disclosure (r = 0.393, p < 0.01) and humor (r = 0.399, p < 0.01), in all cases the effect size was large, and it correlated negatively with psychological control (r = −0.238, p < 0.01). On the other hand, positive affect established significant correlations, with a positive sign, with affect and communication (r = 0.289, p < 0.01), promotion of autonomy (r = 0.289, p < 0.01), self-disclosure (r = 0.251, p < 0.01) and mood (r = 0.361, p < 0.01), life satisfaction (r = 0.396, p < 0.01). The magnitude of the effect was large and correlated significantly and negatively with psychological control (r = −0.146, p < 0.01). Regarding the personality trait of agreeableness, agreeableness correlated positively with affect and communication (r = 0.195, p < 0.01), promotion of autonomy (r = 0.176, p < 0.01), behavioral control (r = 0. 093, p < 0.05), self-disclosure (r = 0.208, p < 0.01) and humor (r = 0.224, p < 0.01), life satisfaction (r = 0.282, p < 0.01) and positive affect (r = 0.300, p < 0.01) and negatively with psychological control (r = −0.174, p < 0.01).

Table 1 Bivariate Correlations Between Parental Educational Practices, Life Satisfaction, Positive Affect and Agreeableness

Multiple Mediation Analysis

Based on the correlational analysis and considering the assumptions of the mediation analysis, a multiple mediation analysis is calculated for the relationship between parental educational practices and life satisfaction, taking positive affect and agreeableness as mediating variables. Both variables were introduced in the model in the mentioned order. For this purpose, model 6 of the PROCESS macro is operated statistically.73–75 In the description of the model, parental educational practices were computed as an independent variable (X), life satisfaction as a dependent variable (Y), positive affect as a mediating variable one (M1) and the personality trait of agreeableness as a mediating variable two (M2).

In the first regression analysis, parental educational practices (X) were considered as the independent variable, and the mediating variable one, referring to positive affect (M1), was considered as the dependent variable. This analysis revealed a statistically significant effect of the parental educational practices variable in its different affect and communication dimensions (β = 0.37, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001), autonomy promotion (β = 0.39, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001), psychological control (β = −0.20, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001), self-disclosure (β = 0.26, SE = 0.05, p < 0.001), and humor (β = 0.50, SE = 0.06, p < 0.001) on positive affect. The results were not significant for the dimension of behavioral control of parental educational practices (p > 0.05).

In the second regression analysis, the mediating variable one, referring to positive affect (M1) and the independent variable parental educational practices (X), were assumed as independent variables, and the mediating variable two, referring to the personality trait of agreeableness, was assumed as the dependent variable (M2). This analysis revealed a statistically significant effect of positive affect (β = 0.04, SE = 0.007, p < 0.001) and parental educational practices such as affection and communication (β = 0.02, SE = 0.009, p < 0.001) and autonomy promotion (β = 0.02, SE = 0.009, p < 0.001), psychological control (β = −0.01, SE = 0.008, p < 0.05), self-disclosure (β = 0.01, SE = 0.008, p < 0.001) and humor (β = 0.03, SE = 0.01, p < 0.01) on agreeableness. The results were not significant for the dimension of behavioral control of parental educational practices (p > 0.05).

In the third regression analysis, the mediating variables one and two were considered as independent variables, referring to positive affect (M1) and the personality trait of agreeableness (M2), as well as the independent variable, referring to parental educational practices (X), and life satisfaction (Y) as the dependent variable. Significant effects of positive affect (β = 0.46, SE = 0.07, p < 0.001), agreeableness (β = 1.31, SE = 0.49, p < 0.01), and affect and communication (β = 0.95, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction. Significant effects of positive affect (β = 0.49, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001), agreeableness (β = 1.44, SE = 0.51, p < 0.01) and autonomy promotion (β = 0.78, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction. Significant effects of positive affect (β = 0.57, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001), agreeableness (β = 1.81, SE = 0.53, p < 0.001), and psychological control (β = −0.41, SE = 0.09, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction were found. Significant effects of positive affect (β = 0.53, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001), agreeableness (β = 1.52, SE = 0.52, p < 0.01), and self-disclosure (β = 0.63, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction were found. Significant effects found of positive affect (β = 0.41, SE = 0.08, p < 0 0.001), agreeableness (β = 1.43, SE = 0.51, p < 0.01), and humor (β = 0.90, SE = 0.11, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction. The results were not significant for the dimension of behavioral control of parental educational practices (p > 0.05).

In the last regression analysis, the independent variable was computed, referring to the dimensions of parental educational practices (X) and the independent variable life satisfaction (Y). The results showed that the total effect of parental educational practices such as affection and communication (β = 1.18, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001), autonomy promotion (β = 1.03, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001), psychological control (β = −0.58, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001), self-disclosure (β = 0.81, SE = 0.09, p < 0.001), and humor (β = 1.19, SE = 0.10, p < 0.001) on life satisfaction was significant. The results were not significant for the dimension of behavioral control of parental educational practices (p > 0.05).

On the other hand, the serial multiple mediation structural model explained 31.72% of the variability in life satisfaction for the dimension of affection and communication (R2 = 0.3172) and promotion of autonomy (R2 = 0.3172) (Figures 2 and 3), 29.70% for the psychological control dimension (R2 = 0.2970) (Figure 4), 26.58% for self-disclosure (R2 = 0.2658) (Figure 5) and 28.21% for the humor dimension (R2 = 0.2821) of parental educational practices (Figure 6).

Figure 2 Model of multiple serial mediation for affection and communication.

Note: **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 3 Model of multiple serial mediation for autonomy promotion.

Note: **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 4 Model of multiple serial mediation for psychological control.

Note: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 5 Model of multiple serial mediation for self-disclosure.

Note: **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Figure 6 Model of multiple serial mediation for humor.

Note: **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Next, the indirect effects were calculated by applying the bootstrapping technique and the contrast results for the serial multiple mediation model (Table 2). The analysis of the conditional effects revealed that the effect of parental educational practices (affection and communication, promotion of autonomy, psychological control, self-disclosure and humor) on life satisfaction, through positive affect, as well as the effect of previous parental educational practices on satisfaction, through positive affect and agreeableness, were greater than the effect of said parental educational practices on life satisfaction, through agreeableness.

Table 2 Indirect Effects of Parental Educational Practices on Life Satisfaction

Discussion

In this large-scale study, the objective of explaining the influence exerted by parental educational practices based on the role played by positive affect and agreeableness has been fulfilled. In this way, the studies that seek to explain the psychological mechanisms that mediate life satisfaction during adolescence are expanded, advancing in bottom-up research, thus facilitating a more complete and interactive understanding in the study of the characteristics of the family context and its relationship with the subjective well-being of the adolescent.

Regarding our first major objective, and regarding the direct relationships between parental educational practices and life satisfaction, our results showed that the main and most robust relationships are established between the dimensions of affection and communication, promotion of autonomy, self-disclosure and humor and life satisfaction, with clear empirical evidence that supports the previous results, especially regarding the perception by adolescents of high affection and communication in the educational practices of their parents and its relationship with high life satisfaction.28,30,31 These data highlight the need for parents to provide moments and spaces for communication with their children, in favor of coping with affective and emotional aspects in the parent-adolescent relationship.8

In addition, the results of the study by Reina et al28 also coincides with the results found in this research regarding the existence of a close correlation between self-disclosure or spontaneous communication by children towards their parents and the cognitive evaluation that people make of their quality of life. On the other hand, regarding the relationship between promotion of autonomy and humor with life satisfaction, our data are also convincing in this sense and reflect a strong relationship between these variables.

Regarding the relationship between parental educational practices and positive affect, in our study, positive affect correlated positively with the humor dimension, with a large effect size. Therefore, the sense of humor or optimism in the parents is relevant for the adolescent to feel happy and develop positively on an affective level. Different authors agree that the characteristics of the relationships established between members of the family group are transferred to other relational contexts, with the family being relevant in affective development.3–5,11 In this sense, our data rescue the value of humor or optimism in family dynamics. Similarly, the works of Oliva et al19 have been insisting on the importance of this dimension in parental educational practices for a better emotional and behavioral adjustment of the adolescent, and Sanmartín et al49 highlights the role played by the emotional climate in improving life satisfaction.

On the other hand, positive affect and life satisfaction (two variables that make up subjective well-being and that are studied independently) were found to be strongly related, in line with what was obtained by other authors.44 In this same direction, in the study by Cassà et al,47 emotional competence was found to be predictively related to life satisfaction. On the other hand, regarding the relationship between the personality trait of agreeableness and positive affect, both variables have been found to be closely related, as shown in previous studies.62,63

Second, considering the previous findings of the relational analysis between the variables under study (parental educational practices, life satisfaction, positive affect and agreeableness) and with the aim of advancing in this field of research, a multiple serial mediation model has been empirically tested to analyze the underlying psychological mechanisms that structurally explain the above relationships, thus fulfilling our second major research objective.

In this sense, the results showed that the causal effect of parental educational practices, specifically the dimensions of affection and communication, promotion of autonomy, psychological control, self-disclosure and humor, on the life satisfaction of adolescents, through positive affect, as well as the effect of previous parental educational practices on life satisfaction, through positive affect and agreeableness, were greater than the effect that these parental educational practices exerted on life satisfaction through agreeableness. Limonero et al48 found, in line with our results, a mediating effect of emotional regulation on the relationship found between resilience and life satisfaction in a sample of university students.

However, the results were not significant for the dimension of behavioral control of parental educational practices, which implies that this parental practice did not conditionate, in any sense, the adolescent’s life satisfaction in the present serial multiple mediation model. In this direction, other researchers found that behavioral control established low or non-significant correlations with variables of psychological adjustment, or it was even positively related to internal or emotional problems in adolescents,19 so that perhaps these findings may partly explain the results we have obtained in this regard. Therefore, it is suggested to continue investigating the role that behavioral control can play in satisfaction with life from other mediation models, as well as considering differences due to sex in the analysis of the present predictive model.

Lastly, this research although it was made up of a large sample of adolescents, it is not exempt from limitations; therefore, we must be cautious when generalizing the results, since they come from a cross-sectional study. On the other hand, self-report measures were used that, although they are widely used by researchers at this stage of development, can be completed with other data collection techniques (observation, interview, among others), applicable to both adolescents and to their parents.

Conclusions

One of the first conclusions drawn from this study is that when family dynamics are characterized by high doses of affection and communication, promotion of children’s autonomy, predominance of humor among its members and a parent–child relationship based on self-disclosure, adolescents feel more satisfied with their lives, experiencing an improvement in their well-being. However, in the case of psychological control, as it increases, adolescents perceive less satisfaction with their lives. In addition, in particular, the use of humor as a parental educational practice is positively related to happiness, so that our data point towards promoting its use in the family context. Therefore, considering these results, the design of family intervention programs is proposed where tools are provided to improve parental educational practices, mainly in the mentioned sense, since these practices will increase the quality of life and the subjective well-being of children teenage sons and daughters.

On the other hand, the relationship between parental educational practices (affect and communication, promotion of autonomy, psychological control, self-disclosure and humor) and life satisfaction in adolescence was mediated by Positive affect and the personality trait of agreeableness acted in causal chain series. Consequently, the different parental educational practices will have a positive or negative effect on Positive affect, which will lead to an increase or decrease in agreeableness, which will, in turn, encourage the adolescent to experience greater or lesser satisfaction with life. These findings point to the importance of contributing from the family to the experimentation of positive affect, since a positive affectivity will contribute to the development of the personality trait of agreeableness, which, as has been shown in previous research, is closely linked to prosocial behavior and socialization in adolescence.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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