Student Wellbeing

How family fun impacts student wellbeing

Taming the busyness of life is currently a hot topic in many parenting circles; both parents are often working, family responsibilities, day care, household chores, meal planning, bills, errands, health issues, school functions, sports, phone calls amongst many other things. As we look forward to the April school holidays, the importance of families having fun with one another has been highlighted in new research.  The study, by researchers from the Australian Council for Educational Research and the University of Western Australia, shows that family cohesion is a vital ingredient for early adolescents having a good life.

The report, Family fun: a vital ingredient of early adolescents having a good life  drew on responses and data from the Australian Child Wellbeing Project, which surveyed a representative sample of 5440 Australian students in Years 4, 6 and 8. The survey included questions across the domains of family, health, friends and school, including about how often students feel they have fun together with their family and whether they believe they’re living a good life.

The study identified distinct life satisfaction profiles for students in each of the target year levels.

At Year 4, family cohesion (fun) emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction. More specifically, the proportion of students with higher life satisfaction was larger in the group of students who had fun with their families on a regular basis. The next strongest predictor was school and teacher support.

In contrast to Year 4 students, the variable that differentiated the most between higher and lower life satisfaction for Year 6 respondents was psychosomatic symptoms – like headaches, feeling low or irritable, or not being able to sleep. For Year 6 students who reported frequently feeling low, regular family fun was associated with an improvement in life satisfaction. Students who felt low rarely, never or every month reported higher life satisfaction than students who felt low weekly or every day. Bullying was also an issue that impacted on Year 6 feelings of wellbeing

Family cohesion (fun) emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction for Year 8 students, followed by the frequency of feeling low. Bullying also came up as a factor that lowered life satisfaction.

The report findings also illustrated that children and adolescents who see schools as a place where they like to go, feel free from bullying and with teachers who believe that students can be a success, report higher life satisfaction.

As we head into school holidays it is important to find time as a family for doing activities that you enjoy together like camping, going to the beach, watching a movie together or playing an old fashioned card or board game.  

Have a lovely end to Term 1.

Emma Bylsma

Head of Student Wellbeing