The Developmental Trajectory of Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Early Adolescents: The Role of Gender and Parental Involvement

Subjective well-being is an important indicator of adolescents’ positive development. Although the general developmental trends of subjective well-being in adolescents have been investigated, the longitudinal differences in the developmental trajectory of subjective well-being in early adolescents remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of subjective well-being and examine the predictive roles of gender and parental involvement in this developmental trajectory among Chinese early adolescents. A longitudinal design was used with 2,483 middle students who were followed up across three time points (T1, T2 and T3). The growth mixture model (GMM) analysis showed three subgroups within the developmental trajectory of the subjective well-being of Chinese early adolescents: high-rising (53.3%), moderate-decline (39.7%) and low-decline (7.0%). Furthermore, group membership was predicted by gender, parental academic involvement and parental academic pressure. These findings suggest that it is necessary to implement normative and effective interventions for the different development trajectories of the subjective well-being of early adolescents.