Peer-reviewed article

Satisfaction-Related Well-Being Among Working Young Adults and Their Parents: Core Self-Evaluations and Life Values in a Preregistered Cross-Sectional Study.

Walczak RB, Sassu R, Nesher Shoshan H, Latusek-Mierzwa M · 20 Jul 2026

Abstract

Background Previous research has documented generational differences in life satisfaction and work-related attitudes, but less is known about how work and life satisfaction differ within parent-child dyads. This preregistered study examined work satisfaction, life satisfaction, core self-evaluations, personal values, and financial situation among working young adults and their working parents in Poland. Methods The study used a preregistered, cross-sectional, observational parent-child dyadic design. The final analytic sample consisted of 87 complete dyads, corresponding to 174 individual participants. Parent-child responses were linked using anonymised self-generated codes. Group differences in work satisfaction, life satisfaction, and core self-evaluations were tested using paired Yuen's trimmed t-tests. Preregistered predictors of work satisfaction and life satisfaction were tested using linear mixed-effects models with dyads as a random intercept. Results Parents reported higher work satisfaction and higher core self-evaluations than their young-adult children, whereas the expected group difference in life satisfaction was not supported. Core self-evaluations positively predicted work satisfaction, whereas the preregistered financial situation composite and achievement value did not. A supplementary component-level analysis showed heterogeneous associations among the individual financial indicators. Work satisfaction was positively associated with life satisfaction, whereas the preregistered Schwartz values were not significantly associated with life satisfaction. Conclusions The findings suggest that parent-child differences in satisfaction-related outcomes are more visible in work satisfaction and core self-evaluations than in global life satisfaction. Core self-evaluations emerged as the most consistent psychological predictor of work satisfaction. The value-based hypotheses were not supported, although these null findings warrant caution because several brief PVQ scales had low reliability.