Abstract:

How satisfied are Filipino college students with their lives and do their respective fathers and mothers accurately gauge this? In an empirical demonstration of self-other agreement in a family context, we investigated self-reports of global life satisfaction vis-á-vis father - and mother-judgments in a sample of N=68 student-mother-father triads using Diener et al’s (1985) Satisfaction With Life Scale validated using Sycip et al. (2000) measure of Filipino well -being. Results showed moderate convergence for self vs mother-reports, with a general overestimation bias for both fathers and mothers. Multiple regression analysis suggested that mother-reports, compared to father -reports, appeared to be better predictors of adolescent children's self-reported levels of life satisfaction, Students with mothers and fat hers who made less discrepant judgments also tended to have higher self-reported life satisfaction. Results are discussed using the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM) of personality judgment (Funder, 1995) as well as findings in family psychology.