Medicine, Mind and Adolescence 1998, XIII, 1-2
FACTORS ENHANCING OR IMPEDING ADOLESCENTS' WELL-BEING
Ewa Stepien1
Ewa Stepien1
Buy full article
Abstract
In this paper I present selected research findings concerning relationships between perceived well-being in a normative sample of adolescents and their other self-report characteristics connected with interpersonal experiences (e.g. relations with parents and peers), social functioning (e.g. school activities, problem behaviors) and some of their intrapsychic dispositions (e.g. self-esteem, life optimism). Well-being was understood in terms of feelings perceived by adolescents such as depressed mood, a sense of alienation and stress. The main aim of the analyses were to identify, within different aspects of adolescents’ psychosocial functioning, the factors enhancing and impeding their well-being while also considering sex and age of subjects.
Data were obtained from 1374 adolescent boys and girls aged 15-19, attending high or technical-vocational schools, living in a large city or in a small town. For data collection the “Ty i Zdrowie" (“You and Health”) questionnaire was used.
The results indicate that 1) perceived well-being depends on adolescents’ sex and age, 2) well-being was positively correlated with adolescents’ self-esteem independently from their sex and age, and with life optimism excluding younger boys, 3) perception of parental support enhance, whereas perception of parental control, impedes well-being of older and younger girls and younger boys, and 4) only among the older boys’ group well-being was significantly correlated with good relation with peers.
The results of these analyses are discussed in terms 1) whether and to what extent the models of relations between well-being and some aspects of psychosocial functioning are similar or different across adolescents’ sex and age, and 2) the functions of perceived well-being and its intrapsychics correlates in the developmental process in adolescence.
Key Words: adolescents, well-being, gender and age differences.
1. Correspondence to: Ewa Stepien, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology & Dep. of Applied Social Sciences, Clinical Psychology Department, Al. Sobieskiego 1/9; 02-957 Warsaw, Poland. Tel.: (+48 22) 842 5154; Fax: (+48 22) 642 5375. E-mail: stepien@ipin.edu.pl
