Personality and Parenting Style as Predictors of Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Secondary Students

Student life satisfaction plays a key role in academic achievement; however, the exploration on the predictors of life satisfaction in secondary school students is insufficient. This study explored how indigenous personality traits and parenting style predicted students’ life satisfaction. The participants were 718 junior secondary students in China with a mean age of 13.39 years. Personality, parental style, and life satisfaction were assessed through inventories which were statistically supported in the literature. The results showed that personality, parenting style, and life satisfaction were interrelated. Personality and parenting style altogether accounted for around 31 % variance in student global life satisfaction. Specifically, global life satisfaction could be predicted by the personality factors of emotional stability, dependability, and indigenous interpersonal relatedness as well as authoritative and permissive parenting styles. Different domains of life satisfaction were predicted by personality factors and parenting styles to different extents. Implications for cross-cultural theorizing and positive education are discussed.