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Social Sciences and Childhood
2025. Vol. 6, no. 3, 22–36
doi:10.17759/ssc.2025060302
ISSN: 2713-0584 (online)

Life satisfaction and school engagement of Russian teenagers from different types of families

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. Significant changes in the structure of the Russian family — such as the increase in the number of single-parent families and stepfamilies (with a stepfather or stepmother), the decrease in extended families, and the prevalence of single-child families — have created the need to study the impact of these transformations on adolescents’ life satisfaction and school engagement. The theoretical basis of the research was U. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach to family environment analysis and life satisfaction, which emphasizes the role of external factors. Objective. To analyze differences in life satisfaction and school engagement among adolescents depending on family type. Hypothesis. Adolescents from different family types will differ in levels of life satisfaction, school engagement, and academic performance. Methods and materials. The study involved 1397 adolescents aged 12-18 years (54,47% female; M = 14, SD = 1; median = 14) from various regions of the Russian Federation. The Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) and the Multidimensional Scale of School Engagement were used to assess satisfaction with family, school, and peer relationships, self-satisfaction, and school engagement. Academic performance was measured using a self-report item (“I have more As / more Bs / more Cs”). Sociobiographic data (gender, age, family composition) were also collected. Results. Adolescents from full families reported the highest levels of life satisfaction and school engagement. Good academic performance was most characteristic of adolescents from full and extended families. Conclusions. Family type plays an important role in meeting adolescents’ basic needs, school engagement, and academic performance. Special attention should be paid to supporting the psychological needs of adolescents from stepfamilies, single-parent, and extended families.

General Information

Journal rubric: Pedagogy and Psychology of Education

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/ssc.2025060302

Supplemental data. Datasets available from https://doi.org/10.48612/MSUPE/vmad-vak4-zux9

Received 05.10.2025

Revised 17.10.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Odintsova, M.A., Radchikova, N.P. (2025). Life satisfaction and school engagement of Russian teenagers from different types of families. Social Sciences and Childhood, 6(3), 22–36. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/ssc.2025060302

© Odintsova M.A., Radchikova N.P., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Maria A. Odintsova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Distance Learning, Faculty of Distance Learning, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3106-4616, e-mail: mari505@mail.ru

Nataly P. Radchikova, Candidate of Science (Psychology), Leading Researcher of Scientific and Practical Center for Comprehensive Support of Psychological Research «PsyDATA», Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Chief Specialist of the Laboratory of Biophysics of Excitable Media, Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino;, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5139-8288, e-mail: nataly.radchikova@gmail.com

Contribution of the authors

Maria A. Odintsova — the idea of research; annotation, writing and design of the manuscript; research planning; control over the conduct of research.

Nataly P. Radchikova — application of statistical methods for data analysis; data analysis; writing and formatting of a manuscript; visualization of research results.

All the authors participated in the discussion of the results and agreed on the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

Written informed consent for participation in this study was obtained from the participants.

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