Adjustment, Stress and Family Life in Adolescents in Canada, Britain, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and The Philippines

Abstract

Using a normative Canadian study as the baseline for comparison of measures of stress and adjustment, and as the basis for a model predicting poor adjustment following stress in family, school and community, a comparison was made of 2,524 15 and 16-year-olds self-competing questionnaires in school settings in Canada, Britain, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong and The Philippines. Results indicate some cross-cultural validity for the instruments used, implying that there are culturally universal aspects of reaction to stress, in terms of emotional and psychosomatic disorder, conduct disorder and hyperactivity, and impaired self-esteem. Students in Canada, Britain, Hong Kong and The Philippines were the most similar in terms of mean levels of stress and of reactions to stress, whilst students in Pakistan and India were the most dissimilar but in opposite directions, the Indian students having particularly good levels of adjustment. A notable finding was that the McMaster Family Adjustment Device was more successful in predicting problems of emotion and behaviour than were more specific measures of physical and sexual maltreatment.

Culture and validity of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and Profile of Mood States in a New Zealand student sample.

“…Most psychological assessments are developed in the United States or Britain with normative data collected in their country of origin and without information on applicability to other cultures. When assessments are used with groups on which they have not been standardized, conclusions drawn from the results may be invalid or misleading (e.g., Bagley et al., 1999). As stated byDerogatis (1994), “the generalizability of psychological decision rules should always be tested in the local context before being accepted as valid” (p. 60).…”

“Is it beneficial to stress grades to my child?” – Relationships between parental attitudes towards academic achievement, motivation, academic self-concept and academic achievement in adolescents

“…The available literature on parent related variables such as parenting, family dynamics or family involvement in schooling assumes that variables related to family functioning are associated with school adjustment (Bagley et al, 1999;Baumrind, 1991;Harter, 1999;Eccles & Early, 1997;Flannery et al, 1996;Grolnick et al, 1999;Scott & Scott, 1998;Vazsonyi & Flannery, 1997;Wentzel, 1994Wentzel, , 1998.…”