Parental psychological well-being and parental emotional warmth as mediators of the relationship between family socioeconomic status and children's life satisfaction

This study aimed to investigate the psychological mechanisms underlying the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and life satisfaction among Chinese children based on Conger's family stress theory model. 293 Chinese children (mean age = 10.34 years, SD = 0.80) completed self-reports on parental emotional warmth and life satisfaction, whereas parents reported on family SES and psychological well-being. Multiple mediation analyses revealed that the association between family socioeconomic status and life satisfaction was subsequently mediated by parental psychological well-being and parental emotional warmth. Parents from families with a low SES were more likely to have less psychological well-being, which significantly predicted a low level of parental emotional warmth and negatively affected children's life satisfaction.