Exploring patterns in South Korea students' life satisfaction trajectories

This research aimed to pinpoint unique trajectories in children's life satisfaction, as well as explore the individual and contextual factors associated with these trajectories. The sample consisted of 2,602 children (50.4% boys) from elementary schools in South Korea. This study conducted the latent class growth analysis, identifying three distinct trajectory groups: low-level (5.5%), high-decreasing (26.0%), and mid-level (68.5%). Self-esteem, sleep duration, warm and consistent parenting, high academic achievement satisfaction, and high levels of friend and teacher relationship were significantly associated with membership in the high-decreasing group. Implications were discussed based on these results.