| Summary: | The tsunami that struck Banda Aceh in 2004, and impacts of this disaster had
lead to various psychological disorders, such as depression, disappointment,
hopelessness, emptiness and the feeling of meaningless. However, not all disaster
survivors experience psychological problems. There are still many survivors who
survive and develop their positive potential, to achieve satisfactions in their life. Life
satisfaction is an important factor in every individual�s subjective well-being. Further,
subjective well-being is a crucial matter for adolescent survivors, because they are in
a period where developing identity and self-image are the most important things to
do. Various research experts indicated that subjective well-being among adolescents
is positively correlated to their physical health as well as to their psychological
conditions, such as: self-esteem, optimism, independence and other aspects of
personality. On the other hand, subjective well-being among adolescents is negatively
correlated to violent behavior, anxiety, depression, and symptoms of psychological
disorders. The purpose of this study was to test the model of subjective well-being of
adolescent survivors after empirical tsunami disaster, based on several factors
influencing adolescent subjective well-being. Referring to the theory of "top-down"
and "bottom-up", it can be formulated that individual subjective well-being is
determined by individual internal and external factors. Internal factors include the
values of life and personality, such as religiosity, hardy personality, optimism, and
self-esteem, while external factors include situational and environmental conditions,
namely social supports. The subjects of this study were 209 adolescent survivors,
aged between 15-18 years living in Banda Aceh. Data were collected by using
questionnaire and scales methods. The study found that the theoretical model of
subjective well-being from adolescent survivors of the disaster does not fit with the
empirical data. However, after particular modifications, the theoretical model of
subjective well-being from adolescent survivors of the disaster finally fit well with
the empirical data. There are indirect effect of religiosity to subjective well-being of
adolescent survivors (β = 0.032), indirect influence of hardy personality to subjective
well-being (β = 0062), direct influence of optimism to subjective well-being (β =
0168), indirect effect of self-esteem to subjective well-being (β = 0075), while social
supports influence directly and indirectly to subjective well-being (β = 0726). The
results of this study also found that there are no differences in subjective well-being
between the gender and between the age of adolescent survivors.
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