This study employed a 2-year longitudinal design to examine the relation of stressful life events and social supports to psychological distress and school performance among 166 early adolescents (mean age = 13.5 years). A prospective approach was utilized to control for initial levels of adjustment when examining the relation of Time 1 stress and support variables to Time 2 psychological distress and school performance. Both stress and support variables made significant contributions to the prediction of subsequent psychological distress. Stresses, but not supports, made a significant contribution to the prediction of subsequent school performance. Evidence for reciprocal and interactive linkages was also found, including effects of psychological distress and school performance on subsequent stresses and supports, and greater adaptive impact of school-based supportive resources under conditions of heightened risk outside of school. Implications for ecological and transactional models of development relating to the targeting and efficacy of preventive efforts are discussed.

This study investigated interrelations among conditions of household socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and adaptational outcomes in a sample of 398 middle grade, early adolescents from a predominantly poor, rural area. Findings indicated that levels of disadvantage were related to both socioemotional and academic adjustment, with those from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds faring most poorly. Specifically, youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income, unskilled occupations were found to have lower levels of school performance and achievement compared to those from homes in which adults were employed in higher paying semi-skilled or skilled/professional occupations. Further, youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited significantly worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than did those whose parents had higher educational levels. Youth who lived in relatively disadvantaged homes also reported more negative experiences of proximal environmental conditions relating to family and school contexts and greater exposure to stressful life events. Most notably, findings provided support for employing an ecological-mediational perspective to understand patterns of linkage between socioeconomic disadvantage and levels of adjustment. Support for this viewpoint included the finding that proximal environmental experiences were significant predictors of adolescent adjustment, independent of shared variance with conditions of household disadvantage, whereas conditions of disadvantage in several instances were no longer related significantly to indices of adjustment once their association with proximal environmental conditions was taken into account. The discussion considers implications for the targeting and scope of ecologically oriented approaches to preventive intervention.

The utility and construct validity of the Children's Depression Inventory and the youth version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were examined. No significant grade, sex, or race effects were obtained for either measure. Examination of convergent and discriminate validity for these measures revealed high correspondence with self-report measures of related constructs. Children's self-reports corresponded poorly with ratings by teachers or parents. Finally, the utility of recommended cutoff scores for identifying extreme groups of depressed children and adolescents was evaluated.

This study employed a 2-year longitudinal design to examine the relation of stressful life events and social supports to psychological distress and school performance among 166 early adolescents (mean age = 13.5 years). A prospective approach was utilized to control for initial levels of adjustment when examining the relation of Time 1 stress and support variables to Time 2 psychological distress and school performance. Both stress and support variables made significant contributions to the prediction of subsequent psychological distress. Stresses, but not supports, made a significant contribution to the prediction of subsequent school performance. Evidence for reciprocal and interactive linkages was also found, including effects of psychological distress and school performance on subsequent stresses and supports, and greater adaptive impact of school-based supportive resources under conditions of heightened risk outside of school. Implications for ecological and transactional models of development relating to the targeting and efficacy of preventive efforts are discussed.

This study investigated interrelations among conditions of household socioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and adaptational outcomes in a sample of 398 middle grade, early adolescents from a predominantly poor, rural area. Findings indicated that levels of disadvantage were related to both socioemotional and academic adjustment, with those from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds faring most poorly. Specifically, youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income, unskilled occupations were found to have lower levels of school performance and achievement compared to those from homes in which adults were employed in higher paying semi-skilled or skilled/professional occupations. Further, youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited significantly worse socioemotional and academic adjustment than did those whose parents had higher educational levels. Youth who lived in relatively disadvantaged homes also reported more negative experiences of proximal environmental conditions relating to family and school contexts and greater exposure to stressful life events. Most notably, findings provided support for employing an ecological-mediational perspective to understand patterns of linkage between socioeconomic disadvantage and levels of adjustment. Support for this viewpoint included the finding that proximal environmental experiences were significant predictors of adolescent adjustment, independent of shared variance with conditions of household disadvantage, whereas conditions of disadvantage in several instances were no longer related significantly to indices of adjustment once their association with proximal environmental conditions was taken into account. The discussion considers implications for the targeting and scope of ecologically oriented approaches to preventive intervention.