Exposure to Domestic and Community Violence and Subjective Well-Being in Adolescents

Abstract There is major exposure to domestic and community violence during adolescence, which has been negatively related to well-being. This work aimed to identify relationships between domestic and community violence and the levels of subjective well-being perceived by adolescents, considering sex and age. The participants were 426 adolescents from public schools in the south of Brazil; 62% were girls, with a mean age of 14.91 years old ( SD = 1.65), who answered one instrument about exposure to violence and another about well-being. Results indicated greater domestic violence exposure among girls and greater community exposure among boys. The age range from 16 to 18 years old was the most exposed to domestic violence. Boys reported greater well-being and less negative affect. Differences in violence exposure may be related to roles of gender in our society. Well-being promotion is highlighted as a resource for confronting violence among adolescents

Subjective Well-Being of Brazilian Children from Different Family Settings

Subjective well-being concerns an evaluation of one’s life, considering cognitive and affective aspects. Contextual factors, such as family, may influence this process. One of the main development contexts of children is family and aspects of these relationships, such as different settings, might contribute to children’s subjective well-being. The aim of this study was to compare the well-being of children from different family settings (intact, single-parent, stepfamilies, multigenerational). Participants were 2,135 boys and girls, from 9 to 13 years old (M = 10.97, SD = 0.99), students of public and private schools from a Brazilian southern State. Children answered a questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and three well-being scales (PWI-SC, BMSLSS, GDSI). Children were divided in four groups according to whom they live with (intact, single-parent, stepfamilies, multigenerational families). To evaluate differences between groups a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) were performed, considering well-being scales as dependent variables and family setting as independent variable. Results indicated significant differences in the well-being of children in relation to their family setting and age. Children from intact families showed significant positive differences on the well-being from children of other settings (the lowest means were from the children of stepfamilies). It is argued that transitions and instability that children are being subjected to may affect their well-being

Subjective Well-Being, Life Satisfaction and Interpersonal Relationships Associated to Socio-Demographic and Contextual Variables

This study aims associating children’s satisfaction to their interpersonal relationships within their main contexts of interaction (family, friends and school) and their satisfaction regarding their subjective well-being, considering the variables age, gender, type of school (public or private) and city of living (capital or not). There were 2.280 children from 9 to 13 years old (M = 10,99; SD = 0,996), being 1.341 from the capital city (58,8%), most of them from public schools (61%) and 55,5% of the amount were girls. The results showed there is no difference between the average satisfaction data and the interpersonal relationships by age and that children living in country towns are more satisfied with their interpersonal relationships. Children who study in private schools are more satisfied with their family relationships and school environment, while students from public schools are more satisfied with their friendships; besides girls are more satisfied with both their school relationships and friends. The subjective well-being decreased as they become older and boys showed an average subjective well-being significantly higher than girls. Considering the interactions among subjective well-being and the variables evaluated, the children who presented higher average of subjective well-being are those who live in country towns and study in public schools and the ones who live in the capital and study at in private schools