Developmental Trajectories and Prospective Associations Between Life Satisfaction and Perceived Parental Autonomy...

Perceived parental autonomy support (PAS) and life satisfaction (LS) may change during adolescence, yet longitudinal studies have typically examined prospective associations and developmental trajectories in separate models. This study examined how these constructs changed and were linked throughout secondary school in South Korea.

Data came from the Grade 7 cohort of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018, a nationally representative longitudinal survey from 2018 to 2023. The baseline sample included 2590 adolescents aged approximately 13 years: 1405 boys (54.2%) and 1185 girls (45.8%). Adolescents completed annual self-report measures of PAS and LS. The autoregressive latent trajectory model estimated growth factors, growth-factor associations, autoregressive paths, and cross-lagged paths. Wave 1 was treated as an initial condition, and growth trajectories were defined from ages 14 to 18.

PAS declined on average from ages 14 to 18. LS showed individual differences in change but no significant linear slope in the ALT model. The intercepts of PAS and LS were positively associated, but their slopes were not. LS was not significantly associated with later PAS, while PAS was associated with later LS from age 16 to 17 and from age 17 to 18.

PAS was prospectively associated with subsequent LS only during the later years of secondary school. Perceived autonomy support may therefore be particularly relevant when adolescents face increasingly consequential academic and future-oriented decisions. During this period, parents' efforts to express trust, acknowledge adolescents' perspectives, and support self-endorsed decision-making may be especially relevant to adolescents' LS.