Matched or Mismatched Environments? The Relationship of Family and School Differentiation to Adolescents' Psychosocial Adjustment

Abstract

This study applies the family-systems concept of differentiation (the balance of autonomy-granting and connectedness) to another primary system of adolescent development—school. This study assessed the relationships among levels of family and school differentiation to the externalizing and internalizing behaviors, peer group membership, and academic achievement of 693 middle and high school students. High levels of family and school differentiation were correlated with all measures of well-being. Individuals in the low-low matched differentiation group had the lowest academic achievement, whereas individuals in the high-high matched differentiation group had the highest academic achievement. Students in the mismatched group, who had high differentiation with parents, but low differentiation with school, had lower grade point averages, higher school absences, and higher disciplinary actions than those in the mismatched group with high school differentiation and low parent differentiation.

Students’ Interpersonal Relationship during the Adaptation in a New Gymnasium Class

“…Horizontalius santykius, vyraujančius tarp bendraamžių grupių narių, nulemia panaši jų gyvenimiška patirtis ir socialinė galia. Vis dėlto grupė, būdama labai reikšminga paauglio gyvenime, turi gana didelę įtaką keičiant paauglio nuostatas ir elgseną (Cotterell, 1996;Battisch et al, 1997;Eccles, Roesser, 1999;Roesser et al, 2001;Barber, Olsen, 2004;Virbalienė, 2004;Giovanna et al, 2005;Lohman et al, 2007). Socialinės adaptacijos sėkmė naujoje gimnazijos klasėje taip pat atsispindi gimnazistų tarpasmeniniuose santykiuose su mokiniais, mokytojais ir jų tėvais Langenkamp, 2004;Poderienė, 2004).…”

Pathways to positive youth development: Identifying family, school, and neighborhood influences on civic involvement in emerging adulthood

“…Thus, it is hypothesized that the influence of bridging social capital on future civic involvement should be the most optimal when adolescents are embedded in and have experiences of neighborhoods, families, and schools with high levels of social capital (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998;Lohman et al, 2007). Specifically, it is hypothesized that the presence of high neighborhood assets will positively contribute to the development of family social capital during adolescence, which in turn will contribute to the development of the adolescent's school social capital.…”

Predictors of youth after-school involvement: The role of congruence between perceived early community and family supportive control

“…Congruency within a mesosystem is related to the degree of consistency or agreement in the contexts; in other words, environmental congruency examines whether multiple contexts complement each other to influence an adolescent's development (Eccles, 2004;Gutman & Eccles, 2007;Roberts & Robins, 2004). Indeed, greater consensus between environments has been shown to yield better outcomes (Brand & Felner, 1996;Lohman, Kaura, & Newman, 2007).…”

“…Extending the bioecological model, the influence of early perceived supportive control of the community and family on adolescent after-school involvement should be the most optimal when adolescents are surrounded by contexts matched in values, particularly support, trust and cohesion (Brand & Felner, 1996;Bronfenbrenner, 1989;Eccles, 1993;Lohman, Kaura & Newman, 2007;Roberts & Robins, 2004). As Anderson et al (2007) found, having a greater number of external supports and opportunities was associated with an increase in prosocial outcomes and a decrease in the probability of risk behaviors.…”

“…Beyond extending the literature by assessing self-selection factors while simultaneously accounting for two contexts, the community and family, this study also examines the influence of perceived environmental congruency. Indeed, the degree of congruence experienced across developmental contexts or environments can amplify the occurrence of positive or negative outcomes (Brand & Felner, 1996;Eccles et al, 1993;Lohman, Kaura, Newman, 2007;Roberts & Robins, 2004). This study assesses how similarities in community and family contexts, defined as a matched mesosystem, increase late adolescent after-school involvement.…”