Swedish mothers’ perceptions of youth well-being: understanding beliefs and behaviours

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore Swedish mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being and in relation to gender, education, and relationship characteristics. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to study reports provided by 1074 mothers based on open-ended survey questions and mother–youth relationship measures. Fourteen sub-themes were identified that encompassed five broader themes: academic and cognitive, emotional and psychological, physical, recreational, and social well-being. Theme combinations were also identified from individual reports. Although mothers’ beliefs were not moderated by youths’ gender, mothers with higher formal education reported more broadly across themes than mothers with less formal education. No significant differences were observed between mothers’ beliefs and mother–youth relationship characteristics. Situated within a Swedish context, these results lift mothers’ view about youth well-being as a multifaceted phenomenon, including similarities and differences with contemporary theories and studies. Future research needs to explore how these beliefs matter for parents, youth and their well-being across cultures.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• well-being
• mothers
• beliefs
• ethnotheories
• Sweden

Introduction

Parents are expected to consider the well-being of their children at any age. This raises a number of questions: What are parents’ beliefs about youth well-being? To what degree do their beliefs cohere with contemporary theories and research? Although research on parents’ beliefs about the well-being of infants and children is available across cultures, less exists on parents’ beliefs about the well-being of youth. Even less is known about how these beliefs may vary based on individual, cultural and demographic characteristics or how such beliefs are linked with the parent–youth relationship. To address this knowledge gap, the present study investigated Swedish mothers’ perceptions of youth well-being. By locating predominant themes, maternal perceptions were studied in more detail with consideration to youths’ gender, mothers’ education, and characteristics of the mother–youth relationship.

Youth well-being theorized

It is evident that general well-being theories are applied onto youth. Independent of age, some study and focus exclusively on the role of emotions and subjective evaluations of well-being in terms of happiness and life satisfaction (Diener, 1984; Diener et al., 2018; Fredrickson, 2001, 2013). For example, Fredrickson (2001, 2013) underlines that positive emotions enable individuals to broaden their behavioural and cognitive capacities to draw from contextual resources (e.g. physical, psychological and social resources) that can expand well-being to other areas in their lives. Research suggest that positive emotions and happiness are central to the well-being of youth (Long et al., 2012; Morgan et al., 2011; Oberle et al., 2011).

Other well-being models target youth specifically and emphasize their strengths. In these models youth well-being is often conceptualized relationally as the coherence between a particular set of youth strengths and ecological resources. With such an approach Benson et al. (2011, 2012) highlight intrinsic (e.g. commitment to learning, positive identity) and extrinsic (e.g. empowerment, external support) relational resources. They posit that these resources foster the well-being of youth within specific academic (i.e. academic excellence), physical (i.e. caring for one’s health) and socio-emotional domains (i.e. compassion for others, demonstrating resilience, leadership skills, valuing diversity, self-control). Other empirical studies suggest that this framework may be relevant for youth across cultural contexts (Scales, 2011; Syvertsen et al., 2019; Wiium et al., 2019). Lerner et al. (2015, 2018) propose that when specific youth strengths (e.g. self-regulation, school engagement, spirituality) and ecological resources (e.g. access to individuals, collective activities, and community institutions) cohere, then youth will do well by demonstrating diverse competences (i.e. academic, cognitive, social, vocational) as well as socio-emotional engagements (i.e. caring, character, confidence, connection, contribution). Research suggest that this model can also to some extent capture youth well-being in diverse cultural settings (Bowers et al., 2010; Gestsdottir et al., 2017; Holsen et al., 2017).

There are however frameworks of youth well-being that combine both of these approaches. These frameworks consider the subjective evaluations of well-being of youth as part of the reciprocal relationship between their strengths and contextual engagements. For example, Lippman et al. (2011) conceptualize youth well-being as a combination of youth strengths, contextual resources, and relationships. In their framework, youth strengths involve explicitly academic, cognitive, emotional, psychological, physical and social characteristics (e.g. being creative, healthy, spiritual), which also include positive emotions and subjective evaluations of well-being (e.g. happiness, life satisfaction). Contextual resources cover families, friends, schools, communities and cultures (e.g. access to community recreation facilities). Relationships represent connections youth have with parents, peers and teachers, and community-based activities and institutions (e.g. open communication between youth and their parents; Lippman et al., 2011). This framework illustrates that well-being is a multifaceted phenomenon, covering both youth relational engagements and strengths, including their subjective evaluations of well-being.

Frameworks are important to understand youth well-being, yet they also need to specify what matters. For example, Lippman et al. (2011) do not clarify if certain components of youth well-being have a higher priority than others or if they are all considered equally prominent based on cultural contexts and subjects (e.g. youth, parents, teachers). Considering Ben-Arieh et al.'s (2014) proposal, beyond the living conditions and the subjective evaluations of youth, investigating the perspectives of key stakeholders in their lives could shed more light on what well-being means in relation to youth. An important strategy would be to study parents' beliefs about youth well-being.

Parent’s beliefs about youth well-being: ethnotheories considered

Parents’ beliefs and cultures matter for understanding youth well-being. By drawing from Harkness and Super’s (Harkness & Super, 2002; Super & Harkness, 1986) theory, the well-being of youth within a family context involves three interconnected systems that mediate their experiences within a larger cultural context. They define these systems as physical and social settings (e.g. home, relationships, daily activities and routines), parenting practices (e.g. behavioural strategies adapted to child’s age), and parents’ beliefs. In such a way, parents’ beliefs are more specifically culturally constructed theories – ethnotheories – covering implicit ideas that are general, such as the nature and needs of youth, and domain-specific, such as their socio-emotional development or socialization goals; implicit ideas that motivate parents (Harkness, Super et al., 2011).

Parents’ beliefs about youth are important to study. Parents’ beliefs about the well-being of infants and children have been studied extensively. For example, mothers’ beliefs are investigated exclusively (Keller et al., 2006; Ng et al., 2012) or together with fathers’ beliefs (Feng et al., 2020; Harkness, Zylicz et al., 2011), with cultural similarities and differences highlighted. However, less research is available on parents’ beliefs about youth. The few available studies are often based on North American parental reports, for example, concerning youth socialization goals (Ramirez et al., 2017; Richman & Mandara, 2013) or youth well-being (Alberts et al., 2006; King et al., 2005). The little existing qualitative studies on what youth well-being means to North American mothers and fathers, depict cognitive, physical and socio-emotional strengths of youth and their engagements with activities and people in their contexts, although with variations in what is emphasized. For example, King et al. (2005) noted that parents mostly characterized youth well-being with positive self-concept and communication skills. While Alberts et al. (2006) identified similar characteristics, parents in their study most often described youth well-being in terms of competence (e.g. academic, social). In order to better understand what aspects of youth well-being matter to parents and to identify cultural similarities and differences, parents beyond the North American context need to be involved in this research.

Parents’ beliefs about youth are important to study in relation to family behaviours and characteristics. In their model, Harkness and Super (Harkness & Super, 2002; Super & Harkness, 1986) suggest that parental beliefs and parenting behaviours are not only closely linked, but mediated by family characteristics that together affect their children’s well-being (Harkness, Super et al., 2011). While there is a plethora of research that links reciprocal parent-youth interactions with youth well-being (Hart et al., 2019; Tilton-Weaver et al., 2010; Wray-Lake & Flanagan, 2012), studies focused on understanding the links between parents’ beliefs and behaviours intended to foster youth well-being are also emerging (Leung & Shek, 2016; Roche et al., 2014). Furthermore, research indicates that parents’ beliefs about their youth can vary with socioeconomic status (Hoff et al., 2002; Wray-Lake et al., 2012). For example, Park and Lau (2016) found across multiple nations that parents with higher social economic status, based on educational level and income, were more likely to endorse child-rearing values of independence rather than obedience. Moreover, parents’ beliefs can also vary with their child’s gender (Gaspar et al., 2010; Hegarty et al., 2009). For example, Gaspar et al. (2010) found that parents tended to overestimate the well-being of daughters with reference to academic performance, bullying, and financial resources, whereas parents overestimated the well-being of sons in regards to physical health, leisure activities, and autonomy. Thus, research on parental beliefs about youth well-being needs to consider sociodemographic characteristics and to what extent beliefs matter to the parent–youth relationship.

Against this background, little is known about parents’ beliefs about youth well-being beyond the North American context and to what extent these beliefs are linked with sociodemographic characteristics and commonly studied aspects of the parent–youth relationship. In the present study, Swedish mothers’ perceptions of youth well-being and the mother–youth relationship is explored. In light of Harkness and Super (2002) model, it is therefore relevant to consider the Swedish context of parents’ beliefs and behaviours.

The Swedish context of parents’ beliefs and behaviours

Sweden is in some aspects a unique setting for parenting. Sweden often ranks highest on secular-rational and self-expression values, where less importance is placed on religion, national pride and traditional family values (Inglehart, 2018). Children are encouraged to be independent and accountable, rather than being religious or obedient (World Values Survey, n.d.). Children’s rights are also a salient feature of Swedish society where a ban on physical punishment and mistreatment of children dates back to 1979 (Durrant, 2011), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in 1989 and recently made law (Swedish Parliament, 2018). Furthermore, social policies are intended to uphold autonomy and integrity of individual family members (Sandin, 2014). For example, since parental insurance was introduced in 1974 companies have become more supportive for employed fathers to take parental leave (Haas & Hwang, 2009), the proportion of allocated parental benefit days used by fathers have increased and currently are approximately 30% and the proportion of days spent to care for a sick child by fathers is nearly 40% (Swedish Social Insurance Agency, 2019). Parents’ beliefs and behaviours about youth and their well-being may be affected by these aspects of the Swedish culture.

The attitudes of Swedish parents tend to be permissive and democratic. For example, Sorbring and Gurdal (2011) note that both Swedish mothers and fathers tend to report more permissive attitudes, respecting their children’s personal autonomy, viewing them as individuals with their own rights, and valuing their right to express their views and opinions. In some respects, Swedish parents stand out when compared with parents from other cultural contexts. For example, Bornstein et al. (2015) noted that both Swedish mothers and fathers generally reported a lower tendency to present themselves favourably in relation to social norms compared to parents from other countries, supposedly reflecting an individualistic culture where autonomy is valued. Moreover, Bornstein et al. (2011) noted that Swedish mothers and fathers in addition to their permissive and democratic parenting attitudes view parenting as being based on both the parent and the child, which may reflect a relatively more equal view of the parent–child relationship in Sweden.

Contemporary Swedish parents also tend to demonstrate democratic parenting behaviours (Trifan et al., 2014). For example, Swedish youths report that their parents generally have a democratic style in negotiating family decisions (Ferrer-Wreder et al., 2012; Trost, 2012), and that they tend to engage in high levels of communication and moderate levels of control and warmth (Trost et al., 2015). Furthermore, most youths between 12 and 18 years report that both their mothers and fathers are available to talk when needed (97% and 92%, respectively), that their parents are concerned about knowing where they are (94%) and that they are enabled to take part in taking decisions that concern them (90%), all with minimal differences in youths’ gender as well as parents’ educational level and ethnic background (Statistics Sweden, 2020). According to youth reports democratic parenting matters to the well-being of youth as it is positively linked with their academic engagement, identity coherence and open communication, and negatively linked with externalized problem behaviours (Trost et al., 2020). Furthermore, Swedish youths who want less parental involvement are also less likely to openly communicate with their parents and more likely to experience externalized problem behaviours (Trost et al., 2007). Once again, illustrating that communication and autonomy rather than rules and regulations may be more indicative of parenting in Sweden.

Swedish parents’ beliefs about their children are also in some ways distinctive. In their study on children’s activities and their meaning to parents, Harkness, Zylicz et al. (2011) noted that Swedish mothers and fathers strived for balance between autonomy and routines for their children, and similar to other European parents primarily lifted the importance of family relationships, but were different in also referring the most to cognitive developmental or school-related activities. Furthermore, Harkness and Super (2006) noted that Swedish parents’ free descriptions of their children were to some degree similar parents from other countries, such as describing them as persistent as did Dutch parents, but were distinct in the sense that they frequently described their children as agreeable, even-tempered, secure, well-balanced and most frequently of all happy, indicating cultural ideals for children in Sweden (Harkness et al., 2010). Yet, when the same parents were asked to rate children’s desired qualities for academic success, Feng et al. (2020) found that self-actualization was a distinctive factor to Swedish parents, including diverse qualities such as being brave, confident, enterprising, independent, persistent, open to experience, strong-willed and demonstrating leadership skills. In light of these two latter studies, Feng and colleagues noted two contrasting depictions of parents’ beliefs about the ideal child: one as agreeable and cooperative, and the other as free-spirited and unfettered.

Although parents’ beliefs about children and their well-being is increasing in Sweden and beyond, research on parents’ beliefs about youth well-being is scarce. In their study on Swedish fathers’ perceptions of youth well-being, Mansoory et al. (2019) identified a variety of characteristics with socio-emotional aspects of youth emphasized the most, followed by cognitive and physical aspects of well-being. Nevertheless, mother’s unique beliefs about youth well-being in Sweden and to what extent their beliefs matter to their behaviours and relationship with their youth remains largely unknown.

Study aim

The present study aimed to identify prevalent beliefs about youth well-being among mothers to youth in Sweden as well as to assess if and how these beliefs were linked to youths’ gender, mother’s educational level, and mother–youth relationship characteristics. The study was guided by the following research questions: what patterns of meaning can be identified from mothers’ descriptions of how they perceive youth well-being and how prevalent are these patterns? To what extent do they vary by youths' gender or mothers’ level of education? To what degree is there a link between mothers’ beliefs and variances in the qualities of the mother–youth relationship? By studying these questions, a greater understanding about youth well-being may be attained.

Materials and methods

Participants and procedures

The participants were the initial cohort of a longitudinal study known as KUPOL, which follows youths and their parents at four time points between seventh grade and the first year of high-school (for more information about KUPOL, a Swedish abbreviation for knowledge on young people’s mental health and learning, see Galanti et al., 2016). The longitudinal study received approval from the Stockholm Ethics Review Board (2012/1904-31/1; 2016/1280-32). The initial cohort included 1464 mothers of youths in the seventh grade. Prior to the data collection, verbal and written information were disseminated to the families. Mothers participating in the study provided written informed consent.

The present study used two inclusion criteria: mothers who reported both demographic information and their beliefs about youth well-being. A total of 1074 mothers (i.e. 73% of initial cohort; M age = 44.07; SD = 4.60) of youths in seventh grade (52% girls) fulfilled these criteria, of which ten mothers reported on behalf of their twins (seven boys and 13 girls). Mothers were defined as and included in the present study all primary caregivers identifying themselves as female legal guardians of youth. This included in addition to biological mothers, two foster mothers and one adoptive mother. Twenty female legal guardians did not specify their relationship with the child in the first data collection point; however, based on comparisons with subsequent data collection points it was noted that 15 reported being mothers. As depicted in Table 1, the majority of the mothers were Swedish born (89%), were living together with their child’s other primary guardian (79%), had studied at college or university (65%), and were working (91%).

Table 1. Demographic information of study participants.

	Frequencies
Characteristics	n	%
Country of origin
Sweden	957	89.11%
Other European	57	5.31%
Asian	34	3.17%
Other	26	2.42%
Education
University/College	702	65.36%
High-school	289	26.91%
Other	61	5.68%
Primary/None	22	2.05%
Living arrangements
Cohabitates with second legal guardian	852	79.33%
Lives separate from second legal guardian	187	17.41%
No second legal guardian	35	3.26%
Occupation
Employed	975	90.78%
Other	99	9.22%
Region of residence
Central Sweden (Stockholm)	510	47.49%
Central Sweden (Other)	365	33.99%
Southern Sweden	122	11.36%
Northern Sweden/Other	77	7.17%

Measures

The present study used a variety of measures that were extracted from the larger project questionnaire, a 15-page long survey which consisted of 87 questions for the initial cohort and was upon request cross-translated from English into 10 languages, including Swedish. A consolidated question was used to collect reports of mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being. Also, three measures among commonly studied aspects of family life were used to assess the nature of the mother–youth relationship, namely: democratic parenting, maternal warmth, and open communication. Internal reliability evaluations of the three measures were conducted using information from mothers that were complete on all of these measures (i.e. n = 899, 84% of total sample). In preliminary analyses, Cronbach’s alpha estimates of internal consistency for each a priori scale was conducted. Specifically, they support the measurement models with acceptable reliability for each scale (i.e. alpha = .70 or above).

Democratic parenting

Democratic parenting refers to the extent to which there is mutual respect between parents and youth concerning their viewpoints (e.g. ‘In our family, we take the time to listen to each other’s views’), and was measured by three items on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always; Wray-Lake & Flanagan, 2012). Wray-Lake and Flanagan (2012) have for this measure reported an internal reliability of .77 based on information provided by mothers. In the present study, an internal reliability of .72 was identified and considered acceptable.

Maternal warmth

Maternal warmth connotes the extent to which mothers express acceptance, affection and support towards their children (e.g. ‘I show my love unconditionally, almost regardless of what my child does’), and was measured by six items on a three-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 3 (usually; Tilton-Weaver et al., 2010). Tilton-Weaver et al. (2010) have reported an internal reliability of .90 for this scale based on aggregated information on both fathers and mothers as provided by youth. The current study was not based on aggregated information and focused only on maternal reports, which resulted in an internal reliability of .70.

Open communication

Open communication represents the degree to which youth spontaneously disclose information about their lives to their mother (e.g. ‘Does your child talk at home about how she/he is doing in different subjects at school?’), and was measured by five items on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always; Kerr & Stattin, 2000). Two counter-worded questions were recoded in order that greater total scores on all items would represent greater levels of open communication. Kerr and Stattin (2000) reported an internal reliability of .80 for this measure based on reports provided by parents, predominantly represented by mothers. Once again they used aggregate information. This study focussed on maternal reports only and internal reliability was found to be acceptable at .72.

Youth well-being

Youth well-being was operationally defined as the inner experiences and feelings as well as the external living conditions of individual youth beyond basic need or survival (cf. Ben-Arieh et al., 2014). To measure mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being the present study used the dual open-ended survey questions: ‘How can you tell if a teenager is developing and if things are going well for her/him in all areas of life? In your opinion, what is she/he like, in what way is she/he?’. Based on an earlier study (Lerner et al., 2005), these questions have been used to study perceptions of youth well-being among North American parents (Alberts et al., 2006; King et al., 2005) and more recently among Swedish fathers (Mansoory et al., 2019).

Data analysis strategy

The present study used a qualitatively-driven design that applied both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitatively, a thematic analytic strategy was implemented to understand mother reports on youth well-being. The Braun and Clarke (2016) framework was used to study the information provided by mothers, using an inductive approach to code data and identify themes that was primarily guided by data. Furthermore, from a contextual perspective mothers experiences and views were interpreted as having meaning within their specific socio-cultural circumstances (Terry et al., 2017).

Although the open-ended survey questions concerning youth well-being were placed towards the end of the 15-page long questionnaire the mothers had provided a total of 28112 words, with an average of 26 words per person. This data was analysed by two trained coders individually and together following Braun and Clarke's (2006, 2016) recommended steps of thematic analysis. First, the coders independently read the descriptions repeatedly without any coding. After these initial readings, semantic codes were extracted. By doing this, portions of text explicit in meaning in relation to their specific sentence contexts were noted. The software NVivo 12 (QSR International, 2018) was used to code the data. During the coding stage, notes were taken to document thoughts and questions. Discussion meetings were then conducted between the coders throughout the process. The codes were grouped together based on their qualitative similarities and dissimilarities. Subsequently, preliminary themes were identified from the clustered codes that represented patterns of meaning concerning youth well-being as guided by the aim and operational definition of the present study. Thus, from the individual responses it was possible to identify either one or more themes, and in some cases no themes were identified (n = 73). Finally, the themes were adjusted, labelled, and defined. At this final stage, the positive indicator framework of Lippman et al. (2011) was used as a reference to structure and group the final themes. Further details are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Analytical flow chart illustrating the iterative process.

In order to study qualitative themes in relation to mother–youth interactions, themes and combinations thereof needed to be assigned a numeric score for comparative purposes. Reports from mothers from which no themes could be identified (n = 73) or that were reported by less than five mothers (n = 54) were excluded from further analyses. Each unique combination of themes as reported by five or more mothers were then assigned a numeric code in descending order from highest to lowest ratio. These were 13 in total, including 1. Socio-emotional well-being, 2. Cognitive-socio-emotional well-being, and 3. Emotional/Psychological well-being. In order to augment the qualitative analytic techniques in numerical coding, quantitative analyses to study this coding was also applied. Chi-square tests were run to compare prevalence of codes and categories by dyads of mothers with female and male youths, as well as comparing mothers with education levels considered high (i.e. university/college) or moderate/low (i.e. high-school, other, primary/none). A one-way between-subjects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to assess if the unique set of themes as reported by mothers were associated with variances in the mother–youth interactions (i.e. democratic parenting, maternal warmth, and open communication). All statistical analyses were conducted in SPSS Statistics 24 (IBM Corp, 2016).

Results

Themes of mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being

In total, 14 sub-themes of youth well-being were identified from the mothers’ reports. In light of the positive indicator framework of Lippman et al. (2011), these 14 sub-themes covered a wide spectrum of academic, cognitive, emotional, physical, psychological, and social qualities of individual youth, and their constructive engagements with extra-curricular activities and various people in their contexts (e.g. family members, friends, diverse adults). As demonstrated in Table 2, each of these sub-themes were grouped into five broader themes, namely: academic and cognitive well-being, emotional and psychological well-being, physical well-being, recreational well-being, and social well-being.

Table 2. Themes of youth well-being based on reports from a sample of Swedish mothers.

Themes and sub-themes	Definitions	Illustrative quotations
1. Academic and cognitive well-being
Academic competence	Being motivated to go to school, taking responsibility for school work and demonstrating successful school performance (e.g. grades).	‘He is motivated for trainings and schoolwork.’ ‘Takes own responsibility for his/her homework.’ ‘Good grades.’
Cognitive competence	Being able to analyse (e.g. problem-solving, reflexivity, critical mindset), to make decisions and plans, to learn things with ease, and being generally knowledgeable and aware about the world at large.	‘Becomes more independent. Increased degree of own problem-solving.’ ‘Thinks about the future and plans time.’ ‘Learns new things, gains new insights, make own decisions … ’
Curiosity	An interest in and to learn from the surrounding world.	‘There is a curiosity and thirst for knowledge that can be seen in their eyes and all of their behaviours.’ ‘He/She is attentive and curious about everything. Thinks it is fun to learn no matter what it is.’
2. Emotional and psychological well-being
Agency	Being determined and action-oriented, aspiring to develop, being diligent, taking initiatives and helping oneself, and generally a responsible, accountable and reliable person.	‘Do their best and are social and able to help themselves in a good way, without forgetting their fellow human beings.’ ‘Responsible … takes initiatives within what interests him/her. Has volition … ’ ‘Takes responsibility … aspirational.’
Confidence	A positive self-regard and sense of being competent.	‘Confident in his/her own abilities; able to overcome difficulties.’ ‘Confident and secure about oneself even in difficult situations.’ ‘Dares to be oneself.’
Happiness	Being joyful, content, harmonious, optimistic and hopeful.	‘Harmonious, happy, positive.’ ‘Has a positive attitude. Happy and harmonious.’
Independence	Qualities that signify autonomy, emancipation, and privacy.	‘That she becomes independent and takes on more, widens her dreams and helps herself, has her own interests that are not influenced by me/us as a family.’ ‘She is searching, trying to figure out who she is/her own identity.’
3. Physical well-being
Healthy	A healthy general condition, including physical growth.	‘I think her general way of being.’ ‘Full of energy.’ ‘That he grows physically.’
Physical self-care	Engaging in healthy physical habits (e.g. diet, hygiene, sleep)	‘Takes care of herself, hygiene, eating habits.’ ‘Sleeps well. Eats a balanced diet.’
4. Recreational well-being
Extracurricular engagements	General participation and engagement in leisure or organized activities available in after-school, community settings.	‘ … active during free time.’ ‘That one participates in all activities that are available or offered.’
Physical activity	Engaging in physical exercises, trainings, and sports.	‘ … plays a lot of sports in the spare time.’ ‘Is active with athletics.’
5. Social well-being
Connection	Constructive and mutually supportive relationships with people.	‘ … has close relationships with family and friends.’ ‘They feel secure and trust in the people who are in their context.’
Interpersonal competence	Social and communicative abilities and expressions (e.g. interaction with people in various settings, engaging in consultations, open disclosure).	‘Social and open.’ ‘ … has a sense of humour, easily shows their feelings, self-confident.’ ‘Open … social competence. Talks with me as a parent and trusts me … ’
Prosocial	Being a caring and compassionate person, demonstrating a variety of character strengths (e.g. kind, respects diversity, honest, humble), and being helpful and supportive to others.	‘Humble, loving, shares with others.’ Cares about other people. Has respect for diversity.” ‘She is very helpful and has great empathy for others.’ ‘That spiritual strengths grow, such as being loving, happy, patient, humble, helpful, faithful. That emotions and actions do not automatically coincide. That one is able to do the right thing regardless of how he/she feels.’

Academic and cognitive well-being

Academic and cognitive well-being, which was identified in about two-fifth of the mothers’ accounts (n = 440; 41%), comprised of rational qualities within academic (e.g. school motivation, good school performance) and cognitive domains (e.g. analytical skills, learning easily, decision-making skills), as well as an eagerness to learn and explore the world in terms of curiosity. Thus, academic and cognitive well-being captured a variety of academic and cognitive skills and having a curious mind as important aspects of youth well-being.

Emotional and psychological well-being

Emotional and psychological well-being was identified in over three quarters of the mothers’ reports (n = 897; 79%), making it the most common theme in the entire dataset. Emotional and psychological well-being embraced the characteristics agency (e.g. aspiration, enthusiasm, taking initiatives), confidence (e.g. a positive self-regard), happiness (e.g. feelings of contentment and joy, being hopeful and optimistic), and independence (e.g. autonomy, questioning and developing one's own perspectives and opinions). Hence, the emotional and psychological dimensions of youth well-being specifically depicted youth as confident and psychologically robust, being happy and having a positive frame of mind, as independent persons and as protagonists of their own well-being based on behavioural and psychological capacities of agency.

Physical well-being

Physical well-being, identified in close to every eight account (n = 130; 12%), was represented by the characteristics healthy (e.g. physical health, general condition, being energetic) and physical self-care (e.g. healthy habits in terms of diet, hygiene and sleep). It was therefore noted from the information provided by some of the mothers that physical health and self-maintenance, manifested as a good general condition and habitually taking care of oneself physically, were important features of youth well-being.

Recreational well-being

Recreational well-being was identified in nearly every tenth report (n = 101; 9%) and embraced the characteristics extracurricular engagements in general (e.g. unstructured leisure time and structured after-school activities) and physical activity in particular (e.g. physical exercises, sports). In other words, some mothers reported characteristics of recreational well-being that were both general in terms of extracurricular engagements and specific in terms of physical activities and exercises, which could be either organized or self-initiated in spare time contexts.

Social well-being

Social well-being was identified in nearly two thirds of the individual narratives (n = 715; 67%) and was the second most common theme identified in the present study. Social well-being consisted of connection, interpersonal competence, and being prosocial. Connection refers to positive relationships with various people (e.g. parents, family members, various adults). Interpersonal competence denotes various communication abilities and behaviours in a variety of settings (e.g. open disclosure, being outgoing and seeking contact with others). Being prosocial characterizes expressions of empathy and compassion for other people, demonstrating character strengths, and to promote one’s context by being helpful and supportive. Thus, a wide range of social well-being characteristics were identified from the mother reports that covered positive relationships, interpersonal competence, and prosocial behaviours and values.

In summary, and as illustrated by Figure 2, mother’s perceptions of youth well-being can be conceptualized broadly as five distinct dimensions. These five dimensions cover a wide spectrum of youth experiences and strengths together with reciprocal relationships between youth and activities and people in their surroundings that were identified as important aspects of youth well-being. Although the prevalence of these characteristics varied greatly, as demonstrated in Table 3, socio-emotional characteristics of youth were particularly emphasized with happiness, interpersonal competence and confidence as the three most reported well-being qualities. The prevalence of academic and cognitive characteristics were in contrast moderate, whereas physical and recreational characteristics were relatively low.

Table 3. Frequency of sub-themes of youth well-being in total sample and split by dyads and education levels.

Sub-themes	Total	Mother-Daughter	Mother-Son	High edu.	Mid/Low edu.
Happiness	558 (51.96%)	287 (26.72%)	271 (25.23%)	372 (34.64%)	186 (17.32%)
Interpersonal competence	487 (45.34%)	237 (22.07%)	250 (23.28%)	336 (31.28%)	151 (14.06%)
Confidence	346 (32.22%)	186 (17.32%)	160 (14.90%)	248 (23.09%)	98 (9.12%)
Agency	289 (26.91%)	155 (14.43%)	134 (12.48%)	197 (18.34%)	92 (8.57%)
Connection	284 (26.44%)	149 (13.87%)	135 (12.57%)	201 (18.72%)	83 (7.73%)
Prosocial	271 (25.23%)	127 (11.82%)	144 (13.41%)	179 (16.67%)	92 (8.57%)
Curiosity	183 (17.04%)	108 (10.06%)	75 (6.98%)	127 (11.82%)	56 (5.21%)
Academic competence	166 (15.46%)	81 (7.54%)	85 (7.91%)	116 (10.80%)	50 (4.66%)
Cognitive competence	165 (15.36%)	81 (7.54%)	84 (7.82%)	116 (10.80%)	49 (4.56%)
Independence	135 (12.57%)	79 (7.36%)	56 (5.21%)	106 (9.87%)	29 (2.70%)
Healthy	86 (8.01%)	44 (4.10%)	42 (3.91%)	57 (5.31%)	29 (2.70%)
Extracurricular engagements	61 (5.68%)	33 (3.07%)	28 (2.61%)	51 (4.75%)	10 (0.93%)
Physical self-care	57 (5.31%)	33 (3.07%)	24 (2.23%)	43 (4.00%)	14 (1.30%)
Physically active	49 (4.56%)	26 (2.42%)	23 (2.14%)	31 (2.89%)	18 (1.68%)

Percentages are based on n = 1074, of which 52.40% had teenaged daughters and 65.36% were highly educated.

Figure 2. A conceptual model of youth well-being.

Sociodemographic variations

As illustrated by Table 4, further analyses of individual responses revealed 13 unique theme combinations with five or more counts per group, based on gender or education characteristics, and represented together 88% (n = 947) of the total sample. The three most commonly reported combinations were Socio-emotional well-being, Cognitive-socio-emotional well-being, and Emotional/Psychological well-being. Further analyses revealed that there were no significant differences between the dyads and the theme combinations: χ² (12, n = 947) = 11.33, p = .501. In other words, no theme or combination of themes were reported either more or less due to the fact that mothers had either teenaged daughters or sons. However, a difference between mothers with high versus mid/low levels of formal education was noted: χ² (12, n = 947) = 21.59, p = .042. In other words, mothers with higher formal education reported broader themes of youth well-being across domains than mothers with less formal education.

Table 4. Frequency of combined themes of youth well-being as reported by total sub-sample and split by dyads and education levels.

Themes of well-being	Total	Mother-Daughter	Mother-Son	High edu.	Mid/Low edu.
Socio-emotional [E/P + S]	252 (26.61%)	129 (13.62%)	123 (12.99%)	161 (17.00%)	91 (9.61%)
Cognitive-socio-emotional [A/C + E/P + S]	190 (20.06%)	91 (9.61%)	99 (10.45%)	133 (14.04%)	57 (6.02%)
Emotional/Psychological [E/P]	163 (17.21%)	94 (9.93%)	69 (7.29%)	99 (10.45%)	64 (6.76%)
Cognitive-emotional [A/C + E/P]	79 (8.34%)	42 (4.44%)	37 (3.91%)	53 (5.60%)	26 (2.75%)
Social [S]	56 (5.91%)	32 (3.38%)	24 (2.53%)	33 (3.48%)	23 (2.43%)
Cognitive-social [A/C + S]	46 (4.86%)	24 (2.53%)	22 (2.32%)	35 (3.70%)	11 (1.16%)
Socio-emotional and physical [E/P + Ph + S]	33 (3.48%)	21 (2.22%)	12 (1.27%)	24 (2.53%)	9 (0.95%)
Cognitive-socio-emotional and recreational [A/C + E/P + S + R]	32 (3.38%)	19 (2.01%)	13 (1.37%)	25 (2.64%)	7 (0.74%)
Holistic [A/C + E/P + Ph + S]	31 (3.27%)	15 (1.58%)	16 (1.69%)	22 (2.32%)	9 (0.95%)
Socio-emotional and recreational [E/P + S + R]	18 (1.9%)	6 (0.63%)	12 (1.27%)	17 (1.80%)	1 (0.11%)
Emotional-physical [E/P + Ph]	16 (1.69%)	7 (0.74%)	9 (0.95%)	10 (1.06%)	6 (0.63%)
Holistic and recreational [A/C + E/P + Ph + R + S]	16 (1.69%)	11 (1.16%)	5 (0.53%)	10 (1.06%)	6 (0.63%)
Cognitive [A/C]	15 (1.58%)	8 (0.84%)	7 (0.74%)	9 (0.95%)	6 (0.63%)

A/C = Academic/Cognitive; E/P = Emotional/Psychological; Ph = Physical; R = Recreational; S = Social. Percentages are based on n = 947. Thus, reports from mothers from which no themes could be identified (n = 73) or with theme frequency counts < 5 (n = 54) are not reported here.

Mothers’ beliefs and the mother-youth relationship

A one-way between-subjects MANOVA was executed to evaluate the links between theme combinations identified from mothers’ reports of youth well-being and characteristics of the mother-youth relationship. The between-subjects factors consisted of the theme combinations (see Table 4). The dependent variables consisted of mother reports on three different measures of the mother-youth relationship: democratic parenting, maternal warmth, and open communication. Analyses were conducted using information from mothers that were complete on all of these measures (i.e. n = 899, 84% of total sample). Assumptions of homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices and equality of variance were not met. Furthermore, correlations between the three dependent variables were moderate (r ranging between .290 and .412). Overall descriptive statistics indicated both high levels and low variance of democratic parenting (M = 4.61; SD = .443), maternal warmth (M = 2.79; SD = .243) and open communication (M = 4.27; SD = .532). There were no significant differences observed between the 13 groups on the three measures of mother–youth relationship characteristics: F(36, 2612.60) = 1.16, p = .241; Wilks’ Lambda = .954. That is, variations in themes of youth well-being as reported by the mothers were not related to differences in the mother–youth relationship in terms of democratic parenting, maternal warmth, and open communication. In other words, irrespective of their beliefs about youth well-being, mothers’ relationship with their youths were generally demonstrating mutual respect, affection, and open communication.

Discussion

The present study explored youth well-being from the perspectives of mothers in Sweden. Diverse characteristics of well-being were identified, encompassing both strengths of youth and their constructive engagements with activities and people in their contexts. These characteristics were in turn categorized into five themes of well-being: academic and cognitive, emotional and psychological, physical, recreational, and social well-being. Overall, characteristics of emotional/psychological and social well-being were relatively more commonly reported, compared with moderate frequencies of academic/cognitive characteristics and lower frequencies of physical and recreational characteristics of well-being. These nuanced results suggest that Swedish mothers’ notion of youth well-being is predominantly the socio-emotional aspects of well-being – such as happiness, interpersonal competence, and confidence – and to some extent also the academic/cognitive, physical and recreational elements of well-being.

In line with relational youth well-being models, the present study identified an extensive structure and content of youth well-being, covering both youth strengths and youth engagements with their contexts. However, the results also suggest that the subjective evaluations of well-being by youth themselves is central, as highlighted by other frameworks (e.g. Diener et al., 2018; Fredrickson, 2013; Lippman et al., 2011). Yet the study results went beyond these frameworks. According to mothers, the socio-emotional characteristics and experiences of youth may matter more in relation to their well-being, followed by academic/cognitive, physical and recreational aspects of well-being. A similar pattern was identified by Mansoory et al. (2019) in their study on youth well-being based on reports provided by Swedish fathers, suggesting that Swedish mothers and fathers may generally perceive youth well-being in the same way.

These results may illustrate mothers’ ethnotheories as situated within a larger Swedish cultural context. For example, happiness was emphasized the most by mothers whereas they barely referred to spirituality, in contrast to some youth well-being models (e.g. Lippman et al., 2011; Lerner et al., 2018). This may reflect prevalent values in Sweden, such as self-expression, where happiness is strived for through personal autonomy, and secular-rational values, where less importance is placed on religion (cf. Inglehart, 2018). Although other qualities of well-being were identified that characterize autonomy of youth, such as agency and independence, the mothers also highlighted their connections and prosocial behaviours, which suggests that personal autonomy and individualistic goals are not sufficient for youth to do well in life.

Generally, the content of youth well-being as identified by the current study are consistent with earlier empirical studies. For example, similar to the Swedish parents in Harkness and Super's (2006) investigation this study also identified happiness as the most ideal quality. In line with the Swedish parents in Feng et al.'s (2020) research this study also identified desired qualities for youth that could be described as self-actualizing: agency, confidence, independence, curiosity. These similarities indicate that certain ideals Swedish parents hold for children are not exclusive, but also are applicable to their youth. Furthermore, there are also similarities with empirical studies with North American parents (Alberts et al., 2006; King et al., 2005), indicating that Swedish parent’s beliefs about youth well-being are not entirely unique.

At a more detailed level, there are certainly differences. For example, in contrast with the Swedish parents in the study of in Feng et al. (2020) who emphasized self-actualization as the most desired quality for children’s academic success, the mothers in this study mostly emphasized emotional and psychological aspects of youth, such as happiness, but also social aspects, such as interpersonal competence, connections, and being prosocial (e.g. care and compassion), as important to their general well-being. As for youth well-being North American parents have emphasized competence (Alberts et al., 2006), or positive self-image and communication capacities (King et al., 2005). Future studies would be valuable to better understand these differences, taking into account both cultural and sociodemographic aspects as well as comparative study aims and methods.

Complex and dynamic descriptions of youth well-being, usually combining two or more of these themes together, were observed from individual reports and were novel results of the present study. Individual mothers most commonly emphasized emotional/psychological, socio-emotional or cognitive-socio-emotional attributes of youth. Other combinations of youth well-being themes were also identified (e.g. cognitive-emotional, social, holistic). Although differences were not found in themes reported among mothers with daughters and sons, mothers’ higher formal education was linked with more varied youth well-being descriptions. Hence, education level of mothers, an indicator of socioeconomic status, were linked with broader reporting of beliefs about youth well-being.

Surprisingly, no relationship was found between the predominant mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being and any of the dimensions of a reciprocal mother–youth relationship. It is important to note again that the mothers generally reported high levels and low variability on all the relationship dimensions, irrespective of their reported beliefs about youth well-being, and therefore no significant differences could be assessed between the groups. Perhaps a lack of conceptual alignment between the beliefs and behaviours of mothers investigated may have existed (cf. Bornstein et al., 2018). Future research would give greater clarity on these issues.

Strengths and limitations of this study

The present study has several strengths. The study used qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches to study mothers’ beliefs about youth well-being. A wide range of characteristics of well-being in relation to youth were reported in the study. Further analyses indicated that the mothers’ definitions and understanding of youth well-being varies, not only individually but also with differing educational levels. Analyses of individual reports revealed that the beliefs of mothers concerning youth well-being most commonly reflects emotional/psychological, socio-emotional or cognitive-socio-emotional characteristics. Although other combinations of well-being themes were also identified from the individual reports, the overall results suggest that youth well-being is multifaceted.

This study has also a number of limitations. The survey questions posed concerning youth well-being, although grounded in earlier research, measured only a limited scope of mothers’ beliefs. The use of mixed data approaches over time would extend the present findings of the study, considering that parents’ beliefs about the well-being of their children may change as they age. Furthermore, the study participants mirrored characteristics of a somewhat homogenous group of Swedish mothers and therefore generalization of the study results to a wider population of mothers is limited. Also, in contrast to what some theories and empirical studies postulate this study does not as provide an explanation for the process by which well-being of youth is promoted or demonstrate how its various elements are linked.

Future directions

The present study identified that the structure and content of youth well-being encompasses a variety of contextual resources and engagements as well as youth strengths, including subjective evaluations of well-being that youth make as a key component. Theory building around youth well-being would benefit from taking these insights into account, as contemporary youth models have tended to neglect the subjective aspects of well-being. Also from a psychometric standpoint, future measurements of youth well-being could consider the salient aspects of well-being as identified by the present study.

Although the positive indicators framework of Lippman et al. (2011) was used to structure the overall themes of youth well-being in the present study, other frameworks with varying well-being domains could be explored further. For example, Clark et al. (2020) propose that well-being of children and youth is beyond individual characteristics and opportunities in the present (e.g. educational attainment, physical growth, mental health) also relational to national and global conditions in terms of economic equity and ecological sustainability that may affect their future lives.

The present study highlights the value of involving parents in efforts intended to understand youth well-being. Parents’ beliefs about youth well-being, however minor it may seem, does seem to play a role in youth well-being. One might think that parents only play an important role during childhood, but this research demonstrates that their importance continues along with the youth. Future research would benefit from perspectives of youth themselves concerning their well-being along with parent reports, in order to identify commonalities and discrepancies, and its links with the parent–youth relationship. Such insights would enable greater understanding to the complex subject of youth well-being.

Disclosure statement

The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shahram Mansoory

Shahram Mansoory is a doctoral student at the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Stockholm University. His research interests concerns studying youth well-being by using both qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to further theoretical and empirical understanding of what well-being is in relation to youth and how it can be promoted.