“We Are Young, We Run Free”: Predicting Factors of Life Satisfaction among Young Backpackers

Tehila Refaeli, Shlomit Weiss-Dagan, Drorit Levy and Haya Itzhaky
Additional contact information
Tehila Refaeli: The Charlotte Jack Spitzer Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8499000, Israel
Shlomit Weiss-Dagan: Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Drorit Levy: Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
Haya Itzhaky: Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Although research from a positive psychology perspective is conducted among different populations, few studies have examined the predictors of life satisfaction among young backpackers. The current study focused on young adults (ages 21–30), an age group for whom backpacking treks are a growing phenomenon, during their treks in the Far East and South America. Direct and indirect models were used to identify personal factors and environmental resources contributing to life satisfaction. After at least one month abroad, 318 young adults (M = 23.76) answered a self-report quantitative questionnaire. The findings show that personal resources, social support, and community participation were positively associated with life satisfaction, and risk-taking behaviors were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Social support and community participation partially mediated the association between risk-taking behaviors and life satisfaction and between personal resources and life satisfaction. The implications of the findings for the subjective well-being of young backpackers during their transition to adulthood include, among others, the need to help young backpackers maintain their personal and social resources as valuable assets for coping with challenges during their trips. It is also important to increase awareness of the possible wide-ranging negative effects of risk-taking behaviors during backpacking trips.

Keywords: backpackers; life satisfaction; risk-taking behaviors; personal resources; social support; community participation; mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1429/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1429/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1429-:d:735568

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().