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Adolescent Emotional Distress: The Role of Family Obligations and School Connectedness

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Abstract

The current study draws upon ecodevelopmental theory to identify protective and risk factors that may influence emotional distress during adolescence. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the relationship among family obligations, school connectedness and emotional distress of 4,198 (51% female) middle and high school students who were primarily (59%) European American. The overall model explained 21.1% of the variance in student emotional distress. A significant interaction effect was found indicating that school connectedness moderated the relationship between family obligations and emotional distress. Specifically, for students with low to moderate levels of family obligations, a stronger sense of school connectedness was associated with lower emotional distress. The buffering effect of school connectedness was weakened as the level of family obligations increased and completely disappeared for students who experienced high levels of family obligations. The creation of a program that takes a holistic approach, in order to curtail the levels of highly emotionally distressed adolescents, must continue to address the ever changing demands that adolescents encounter and prepare youth to deal with functioning within multiple contexts and do so while maintaining emotional well-being.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the following persons who made important contributions to the completion of this study: Rosemary McCain, Maxine Wittman, Rebecca Manoleas, Jessica Brisson, Matthew Hoge, Joe Patterson, Catalina Baker, Matt Federoff, Kris Bosworth, Maryann Judkins, Ellen Brown, John Carruth, Cynthia Comé, Margie Ellis, Anne Gibson, Olivia Groh, Suu Holtslander, Cindy King, Jean-Jacques Maury, Calvin Baker, Andrea Richards, Vail Governing Board, Community Action Board, and all the wonderful and dedicated, teachers, staff, parents, and students of the Vail community. We gratefully acknowledge Alexandra Armenta for her assistance with manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Medicine, Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210151, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Ada M. Wilkinson-Lee & Velia Leybas Nuno

  2. Evaluation Research and Development, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210151, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Qionghui Zhang

  3. Nutritional Sciences, Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, Evaluation Research and Development, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210151, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Mari S. Wilhelm

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  1. Ada M. Wilkinson-Lee
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Correspondence to Ada M. Wilkinson-Lee.

Additional information

The evaluation conducted for the original study was supported through funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of SAMHSA.

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Wilkinson-Lee, A.M., Zhang, Q., Nuno, V.L. et al. Adolescent Emotional Distress: The Role of Family Obligations and School Connectedness. J Youth Adolescence 40, 221–230 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9494-9

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