Parental Illness and Life Satisfaction among Young People: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Importance of School Factors

Sanne Ellegård Jørgensen, Lau Caspar Thygesen, Anette Andersen, Pernille Due and Susan Ishøy Michelsen
Additional contact information
Sanne Ellegård Jørgensen: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestræde 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Lau Caspar Thygesen: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestræde 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Anette Andersen: Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus University Hospital, Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, 8200 Aarhus, Denmark
Pernille Due: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestræde 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark
Susan Ishøy Michelsen: National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestræde 6, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Background: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parental illness and life satisfaction among Danish adolescents and the potential modifying effect of positive school experiences. Moreover, we describe the use of student counsellor services among adolescents with and without ill parents. Methods: Data included 9565 adolescents primarily aged 13–19 years, who participated in the cross-sectional Well-being Despite Study. Multilevel logistic regression models including joint effect analyses were performed. Results: Parental illness was strongly associated with life satisfaction. Negative school experiences were more frequent among adolescents with ill parents and strongly associated with low life satisfaction for all students. However, joint effect analyses did not show effect modification by school-related variables. The odds ratio of having talked to a student counsellor was highest for adolescents with multiple ill parents, compared to no ill parents. Conclusions: Parental illness is a strong predictor of low life satisfaction among adolescents; the impact depends on number of ill parents, whether parental illness is physical or mental, and their level of impairment. Positive school experiences were less frequent in adolescents of ill parents and did not counteract the effect of parental illness on life satisfaction.

Keywords: parental illness; adolescents; school environment; life satisfaction (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/1660-4601/19/5/2719/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2719/ (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:5:p:2719-:d:759259

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 ().