Life stress, social support and psychological distress in late adolescence: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Questionnaire data from 211 adolescents and follow-up data recorded 18 months later were employed to test main effects and stress-buffering effects of negative life events, on-going stressors and social support from family and friends on mental health. Negative life events, change from baseline level of on-going adversities and social support all contributed significantly to subsequent symptom scores, although negative life events only reached borderline significance among boys. There was evidence in favour of the buffer hypothesis for boys: negative life events had a significantly stronger effect when social support from peers was low, and long-lasting adversities had a significantly stronger effect when social support from parents was low. Both these two-way interaction effects among boys were significantly different from the corresponding trends among girls. Since the scores on both the independent and dependent variables are based on subjective self-reports, the results may have been affected by various types of response bias. The probabilities of such bias effects are discussed.

Somatic Symptoms and Diseases are more Common in Women Exposed to Violence

“…A tendency among respondents towards answering questions in general as either yes or no on the questionnaire could potentially produce biased estimates. 36 However, there is little reason to believe that women who tend to report severe sexual violence also tend to report more somatic symptoms, and our findings are consistent with other studies showing a relationship between violence exposure and somatization. Somatic symptoms are more common than exposure to violence, overreporting symptoms would tend to underestimate the impact of violence exposure on somatic symptoms and diseases.…”

Associations between teacher emotional support and depressive symptoms in Australian adolescents: A 5-year longitudinal study.

“…Further, a study by Desjardins and Leadbeater (2011) revealed that emotional support from fathers reduced the association between adolescents' relational victimization and depressive symptoms. Finally, an 18-month longitudinal study demonstrated that the harmful effects of negative life events were reduced by parental support (Ystgaard et al, 1999). Hammen (2005) pointed out that multiple models explaining the development and maintenance of depression, such as the cognitive stress-vulnerability model of depression (Beck, 1976) and the self-esteem vulnerability model (Brown & Harris, 1978), are conceptualized similarly to the stress-buffer model.…”

Factors Related to Well-Being in Irish Adolescents

“…High levels of well-being were found to be associated with low life stress in studies by Weir (1978a, 1978b), Burt, Cohen and Bjorck (1988), Cauce, Hannan and Sargeant, (1992), Dumont, and Provost (1999), Frye and Goodman (2000), Gore and Aseltine (1995), Herman-Stahl and Petersen (1996), Southhall and Roberts (2002) Spence, Sheffield and Donovan (2002), Windle (1992), and Ystgaard, Tambs and Dalgard (1999). High levels of well-being have been found to be associated with a variety of personal strengths including an internal locus of control (Cauce, Hannan and Sargeant, 1992); self-efficacy (Herman-Stahl and Petersen, 1996); self-esteem (Dumont, and Provost, 1999;Southhall and Roberts, 2002);…”

“…High levels of well-being have been found to be associated with greater social resources including high levels of social support Weir, 1978a, 1978b;Cauce, Hannan and Sargeant, 1992;Gore and Aseltine, 1995;Windle, 1992;and Ystgaard, Tambs and Dalgard, 1999) and a positive family climate (Burt, Cohen and Bjorck, 1988), A structural equation model which explained the relationships among the variables in these profiles was developed. In this model increased personal strengths was associated with better subjective well-being and fewer stressful life events; and increased social resources was associated with better task-focused coping.…”