Why Do Some Adolescents Manage Despite Parental Illness? Identifying Promotive Factors

This study aimed to examine the association between social support, leisure time, school experience, and well-being among adolescents with an ill parent. Moreover, we explored the cumulative effect of promotive factors in relation to well-being.

The population included a subsample of 676 students reporting serious or chronic parental illness, selected from a nationwide Danish survey, the Well-being Despite Study. Well-being was measured by the five-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index. Social support included support from parents, siblings, and friends. A positive school experience encompassed trust in teachers, classroom community, and overall judgment of the school. Leisure time included frequency of activities and having enough time for friends and oneself. We performed multilevel logistic regression analyses using SAS 9.4.

Social support, a positive school experience, and leisure time were positively associated with well-being. For instance, for boys and girls who felt they had enough time to themselves, the odds ratio of moderate to high well-being was 3.7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.8-7.7) and 2.9 (95% CI: 1.9-4.3) respectively, compared with boys and girls who did not. Cumulative analyses showed increasing odds of moderate to high well-being with increasing number of promotive factors, the odds ratio being 39.7 (CI 95%: 11.6-136.2) among adolescents with 10 promotive factors compared with adolescents with 0-5 promotive factors.

Social support, a positive school experience, and satisfying leisure time may be important promotive factors, and the results point toward a more ecological approach to improve well-being among adolescents with ill parents.