Perceived social support among adolescents in Residential Youth Care

Singstad, Marianne Tevik; Wallander, Jan L.; Lydersen, Stian; Wichstrøm, Lars; Kayed, Nanna Sønnichsen

doi:10.1111/cfs.12694

Cited by 12 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…It is a well-known fact that friends become increasingly important with higher age [ 66 , 70 ], so the significant associations between friend support and QoL across all domains for girls are not surprising, as they coincide with previous research [ 52 ]. Girls mostly report valuing closeness and the emotional aspects of social support through one-to-one interactions [ 38 , 62 , 70 ], so that they consider being cared for, valued, and accepted by friends as particularly important during adolescence [ 8 , 70 ]. This is also associated with better QoL for girls.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Social Support Questionnaire measures three aspects of perceived social support, including perceived number of different types of support persons (SSQ-N), social support satisfaction (SSQ-S), and perceived social support from different social support providers. As the satisfaction scale only measures satisfaction with the perceived support in each situation, not individually for each provider, and that the adolescents are generally satisfied with the support perceived [ 8 ], we chose not to include this scale in our analyses. Instead, in the current study, we used a short 5-item version [ 60 ] developed from the original 27-item version [ 32 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Knowledge of the potential protective factors for vulnerable adolescents' development while living in RYC is generally lacking despite its integral role in providing optimal care and in informing policies and practices for providing high-quality RYC institutions. Perceiving social support can be relevant in this regard; however, adolescents in RYC report lower perceived social support [ 8 ] compared to adolescents in the general population. Thus, the aim of the current study is to investigate the associations between perceived social support and QoL for these high-risk adolescents and determine the potential moderating effect of perceived social support on QoL for those with maltreatment and polyvictimization experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though the primary purpose of RYC placements is to support positive development with the provision of a safe and caring environment, the strain caused by the immediate change in residency can disrupt previously established healthy attachments and ultimately negatively impact the adolescents’ mental health, perceived stress, and social relationships [ 18 , 19 ]. Consequently, these psychosocial strains put them at greater risk for poor QoL [ 4 , 20 ], mental health problems [ 21 , 22 ], and low levels of perceived social support [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One study on the same population as the current study found that adolescents in RYC perceive less social support than adolescents in the general population, with mothers, friends, and RYC staff serving as the important social support providers [ 8 ]. Additionally, boys in RYC tend to perceive lower social support than girls [ 36 ], whereas girls tend to be more available for emotional closeness in social relationships than boys [ 37 , 38 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perceived social support and quality of life among adolescents in residential youth care: a cross-sectional study

Singstad

Wallander

Greger

et al. 2021

Health Qual Life Outcomes

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Background Residential youth care (RYC) institutions aim to provide care and stability for vulnerable adolescents with several previous and present challenges, such as disrupted attachments, wide-ranging adverse childhood experiences, mental health problems, and poor quality of life (QoL). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to provide knowledge of the associations between perceived social support and QoL and to explore the potential moderating effect of perceived social support on QoL for adolescents who have experienced maltreatment and polyvictimization. Methods All RYC institutions with adolescents between the ages 12–23 in Norway were asked to participate in the study. A total of 86 institutions housing 601 adolescents accepted the invitation, from which 400 adolescents volunteered to participate. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Interview was used to gather information on maltreatment histories and degree of victimization; the Kinder Lebensqualität Fragebogen was used to measure QoL through several domains (overall QoL, physical well-being, emotional well-being, and self-esteem); and the Social Support Questionnaire was used to measure perceived social support. Linear regression and independent samples t-test were used to study the associations between perceived social support and QoL as well as the potential moderating effect of perceived social support in the association between maltreatment history and QoL. Results Perceived social support was positively associated with QoL for both girls and boys, with domain-specific findings. A higher number of different types of support persons was associated with overall QoL, emotional well-being, and self-esteem for boys, but only with self-esteem for girls. Individual social support from RYC staff and friends was associated with higher QoL for girls. However, perceived social support did not moderate the association between maltreatment history and reduced QoL for either sex. Conclusions This study emphasizes the importance of maintaining social support networks for adolescents living in RYC, the crucial contribution of RYC staff in facilitating social support, and the potential value of social skills training for these vulnerable adolescents. Furthermore, a wider range of initiatives beyond social support must be carried out to increase QoL among adolescents with major maltreatment and polyvictimization experiences.

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