Citation

Herke M, Knöchelmann A, Richter M. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(18).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17186470

PMID

32899489

Abstract

The family is of exceptional and lifelong importance to the health of adolescents. Family structure has been linked to children's and adolescents' health and well-being; a nuclear family has been shown to be indicative of better health outcomes as compared with a single-parent family or a step-family. Family climate is rarely included in studies on children's and adolescents' health and well-being, albeit findings have indicated it is importance. Using data from n = 6838 students aged 12-13 years from the German National Educational Panel Study, this study shows that stronger familial cohesion and better a parent-child relationship are associated with better self-rated health, higher life satisfaction, more prosocial behavior, and less problematic conduct, and that these associations are stronger than those for family structure. Surveys on young people's health are encouraged to include family climate above and beyond family structure alone.

Language: en

Keywords

children; adolescents; Germany; well-being; family structure; family climate; National Educational Panel Study; subjective health