Life Satisfaction in Romanian Youth: The Effects of Perceived Economic Status, Self-Esteem and Quality of Family and Peer Relationships

Background: An important concept within the positive psychology literature is life satisfaction. Purpose: This research aims to determine to what extent socio-demographic variables, subjective material well-being, aspects of social relationships and personal resources influence adolescents’ general life satisfaction. Methodology: This study is part of a larger longitudinal investigation on transition of adolescents to young adulthood in Romania (OoA). For this analysis we used data from the second wave available from 1509 Romanian youth aged 19-23. Using the contact information from participating in the first wave, during November 2014 and February 2015, youth were contacted via email, phone or Facebook account and asked to log-in again on the online platform and fill in the questionnaire. The participants completed scales measuring their perception of family environment, support from peer-group and global self-worth. The structured questions were used to assess youth’ global satisfaction with life, perception of their economic status and socio-demographic variables. Results: The results showed that youth’ life satisfaction could be best explained by their higher self-esteem (β = .391), parental support (β = .132), participation in decision process (β = .111), and higher material well-being (β = .214). Conclusions: The study confirms the significance of both environmental and intrapersonal variables in constructing positive life satisfaction, thus indicating the need for complex interactional models of positive well-being in transitioning to adult life.