Protective effect of supportive family relationships and the influence of stressful life events on adolescent adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the occurrence of stressful life events and internalizing and externalizing problems, and to analyze longitudinally buffering effects of supportive family relationships. To this end, 100 Spanish adolescents were studied twice, when they were in mid-adolescence (15Á16 years) and two years later. They completed questionnaires regarding stressful life events, family relationships, and adolescent adjustment. Results showed that high quality parent-adolescent relationships protected boys and girls against the negative consequences of stressful life events on externalizing, but not internalizing, symptoms. The adolescents who enjoyed good relationships with their parents in mid-adolescence did not increase their externalizing problems in late adolescence as consequence of the occurrence of stressful events. However, these stressors did lead to an increase in the number of externalizing problems when the family relationships were of a middle or low quality. These results highlight the important role that supportive family relationships play in the behavioral adjustment of adolescents, protecting them against some negative consequences of stressful life events, and suggest the relevance of supporting parents through resources such as parent education in order to help them to improve their relationships with their adolescents.

Personal and Contextual Factors Related to Internalizing Problems During Adolescence

“…Thus, of the four parenting variables, two of these were decisive: parental affection, which was demonstrated to be a protective factor, and psychological control, which was revealed as an important risk factor. The relevance of affection suggests the importance of parents maintaining a supportive relationship with their children to promote good psychological adjustment (Steinberg, 2001) and to prevent the negative consequences of stressful life events (Costa, Weems and Pina, 2009;Oliva, Jiménez and Parra, 2009). The negative effect of psychological control techniques was also confirmed in our study which coincides with the results of other researchers (Costa and Weems, 2005;Barber and Harmon, 2002;Barber, Olsen, and Shagle, 1994).…”

Academic Aspirations as a Moderator of the Link Between Negative Life Events and Delinquency in a Sample of Latino Youth

“…Therefore, the more psychosocial stressors one experiences, the more likely he or she will be atrisk for externalizing problems and other difficulties (Beuhler & Gerard, 2013;Oliva, Jiménez, & Parra, 2009). Because of the strong relation between NLEs and delinquency, (Katz, Esparza, Smith-Carter, Grant & Meyerson, 2012;Zinzow et al, 2009) Latino youth experiencing high levels of NLEs may become more involved in delinquent activities (Rubens et al, 2013).…”

JGZ-richtlijn Psychosociale problemen

“…Het is aannemelijk dat een goede relatie met de ouders een beschermende factor is tegen het ontwikkelen van externalizerende problemen, wanneer het kind negatieve levensgebeurtenissen heeft meegemaakt A2 (Oliva et al, 2009) 3 Er is een aanwijzing dat kinderen van moeders die thuis meer leeractiviteiten ondernemen, minder externalizerende problemen hebben…”

“…Een goede band met de ouders beschermt tegen het ontwikkelen van internaliserende en externaliserende problemen van het kind, wanneer zich ingrijpende levensgebeurtenissen (zoals het verlies van een ouder of een misdrijf) hebben voorgedaan (Oliva et al, 2009). …”