Focusing on the family system, this study simultaneously examined the effects of the parental factor, family functioning, and individual factor on youth psychological well-being. Overall, 332 youths and their parents were involved in this research and responded to an online questionnaire measuring parental optimism, family cohesion, youth optimism, and youth psychological well-being. The results suggested that (1) parental optimism was positively related to youth psychological well-being; (2) both family cohesion and youth optimism mediated the connection between parental optimism and youth psychological well-being; and (3) the link between parental optimism and youth psychological well-being was mediated by family cohesion and youth optimism in sequence. The present study reveals the underlying mechanism of how to improve youth psychological well-being from within the family system.
Keywords: family cohesion; optimism; psychological well-being.