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Placing Adolescents on a Trajectory to Happiness: The Role of Family Assets and Intentional Self-Regulation

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Abstract

Based on the positive youth development perspective, we develop a series of models including family assets, intentional self-regulation, and happiness to analyze the paths between the intercepts and slopes of the constructs. A sample of 1214 school children (Mage = 12.89, SD = 0.51) was followed from their 1st–3rd year of junior high school. The results showed that Chinese adolescents have good, stable family assets, which positively predict the increased trajectory of their intentional self-regulation (ISR) and happiness. Additionally, the initial level and change rates of ISR played a mediating role rather than a moderating role in the relationship between family assets and adolescents’ happiness, but such indirect effects were not observed when family assets and school assets were considered simultaneously. These findings suggest that a sufficient level of resources in the family context can effectively promote adolescents’ happiness. Crucially, as a developmental strength, ISR can help to place adolescents on the trajectory to happiness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, No. 88 East Wenhua Road, Jinan, 250014, Shandong Province, China

    Mingyu Guo, Lingxiao Wang, Liang Zhang, Qingqing Hou, Jian Yang & Shumin Chang

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  1. Mingyu Guo
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  2. Lingxiao Wang
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  3. Liang Zhang
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  4. Qingqing Hou
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  5. Jian Yang
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  6. Shumin Chang
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Correspondence to Shumin Chang.

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Guo, M., Wang, L., Zhang, L. et al. Placing Adolescents on a Trajectory to Happiness: The Role of Family Assets and Intentional Self-Regulation. J Happiness Stud 24, 945–966 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00626-6

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