Abstract
Although previous research established a positive association between perceived social support and adolescent life satisfaction, little is known about the relative importance of different sources of support for adolescent life satisfaction and cross-country variations in this respect. Using large-scale representative samples from the 2017/18 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, this study examined to what extent the association between social support and life satisfaction in early adolescence varied across different social sources and countries. Also, it examined whether cross-country variations are explained by national-level generalized trust, a sociocultural factor that shapes adolescent socialization. National-level data were linked to data from 183,918 early adolescents (Mage = 13.56, SD = 1.63, 52% girls) from 42 European and North American countries/regions obtained from HBSC. Multilevel regression analyses yielded a positive association between support from different sources and life satisfaction. The strongest associations were found for support from families, followed by teachers and classmates, and weakest for support from friends. Associations varied across different countries/regions. National-level trust amplified the association between perceived classmate support and adolescent life satisfaction. The revealed cross-country differences open avenues for future cross-cultural research on explanations for cross-cultural differences in the association between social support from different sources and life satisfaction in early adolescence.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1384–1409 |
| Number of pages | 26 |
| Journal | Journal of Youth and Adolescence |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study used survey data collected in the 2017/18 cycle of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The HBSC study is an internationally-comparative study carried out in collaboration with WHO/EURO. The international coordinator of the 2017/18 study was Jo Inchley (University of Glasgow) and the data bank manager was Oddrun Samdal, (University of Bergen). A complete list of participating countries and researchers is available on the HBSC website (http:// www.hbsc.org). The data collection for each HBSC survey is funded at the national level. S.B., C.F., and G.W.J.M.S. conceived of the study, interpreted the data, and drafted the manuscript together; M.M. contributed to conceiving the pre-registration, conducting and interpreting the statistical analysis, and revising the manuscript; M.B. contributed to conducting and interpreting the statistical analysis, and to revising the manuscript; C.E., F.M.B., K.D., and R.T. contributed to revising the manuscript; W.v.S. contributed to conceiving pre-registration and revising the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors did not receive any specific funds, grants, or other support from any organization for the submitted work. The data collection for the HBSC data was funded at the national level in each country. The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords
- Different sources of perceived social support
- Early adolescents
- Life satisfaction
- Multilevel regression analysis
- National-level generalized trust