Parental Emotional Support, Family Functioning and Children's Quality of Life.

The healthy development of children and young people is strongly associated with the relationship that they establish with parents and the functioning of their family as a whole, with a special focus on the affective relationship between parents and children. One aspect that has more influence on the well-being and quality of life of children is the affective relationship and family dynamics, so, to deepen knowledge in this area, our study aims to understand and characterize the role of parents' emotional support in their children's quality of life. It is also intended to understand this relationship by taking into account the family functioning style. The sample included 1757 parents of children aged 6 to 16 years, 77.3% female (n = 1359) and 22.7% male (n = 398), aged between 20 and 80 years (M = 41.61 and SD = 5.71). We used a sociodemographic questionnaire and other instruments in order to measure parental styles, family functioning style, and parents' perception of the children's quality of life. Results show that parenting styles, namely, emotional support, and family functioning are influenced by parents' gender and age. Parental emotional support is better explained by the positive association with control attempt, family cohesion and commitment, and parent's perception of quality of life, and negative associated to gender (male), rejection and coping strategies. Implications for research, prevention, and psychological intervention in relation to parental skills and family functioning are presented in order to promote children quality of life and health development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]