The Relation Between children’s Participation in Daily Activities, Their Engagement with Family and Friends, and Subjective Well-Being

The study aimed to ascertain the relation between children’s participation in daily activities, engaging with family and friends and their subjective well-being (SWB); and to ascertain the extent to which the nature of the relation differs across three age groups (8, 10 and 12), gender, and geographical context (urban and rural). The study used data from Wave 2 of the South African Children’s Worlds Study conducted with a random sample of 3284 children between the ages of 8 to 12-years. Three scales measuring children’s daily activities, engagement with family and friends, and their SWB using the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale were used. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling; with group comparisons assessed by means of multi-group structural equation modelling. The study found a significant relation between children’s engagement with family and friends and participation in daily activities and their SWB; with the combined influence of engagement with family and friends and participation in daily activities explaining 31% of the variance in SWB. Engagement with family and friends contributed a higher explained variance in SWB than participation in daily activities. Multi-group analysis revealed the tenability of metric invariance across age and gender, which allowed for meaningful comparisons by correlation and regression coefficients. Across geographical contexts scalar invariance was tenable allowing for meaningful comparisons across correlations, regression coefficients, and latent means. While the findings of the study suggest that children’s time use is an important factor influencing their SWB, researchers, practitioners and policy makers should consider the diversity of ‘childhoods’ in South Africa, especially as it relates to the historical ‘situatedness’ of the macro-factors of poverty, deprivation, and social inequality, and how this impacts children’s access to and the nature of their daily activities.