The Contribution of Internal and External Resources to Emotional Adjustment: A Comparison of At-Risk and Normative Adolescents

Abstract

The article discusses the differences between normative and at-risk adolescents with regard to the contribution of background variables (gender and age), internal resources (mastery and emotional maturity), and external resources (parental support and peer support) to their emotional adjustment. The results indicate lower levels of mastery, emotional maturity, parental, and peer support among the at-risk adolescents, than the normative adolescents, and the former display more emotional symptoms. The findings also show that gender does not contribute to emotional adjustment in either research group. In the normative group, the age of the adolescent was found to have a small contribution. With regard to internal resources, while both mastery and emotional maturity were found to contribute significantly in the at-risk group, only the emotional maturity of the adolescent was found to contribute in the normative group. Of the external resources, contrary to the research hypotheses, the contribution of peer support was not found to be higher in the normative group. In both groups, and particularly the normative one, parental support contributed to emotional adjustment. The discussion suggests explanations for the research findings and their implications, as well as recommendations for further research.

Girls in foster care: Risk and promotive factors for school adjustment across the transition to middle school

“…Our findings indicated that greater feelings of caregiver support were associated with greater increases in academic competence across time. This is consistent with the literature suggesting that having a caregiver relationship that is perceived by the youth as being positive and supportive could promote resilience for youth in foster care (e.g., Jackson & Martin, 1998; Ungar, 2004), from other high-risk backgrounds, and in the general population (Lipschitz-Elhawi & Itzhaky, 2008; Rueger, Malecki, & Demaray, 2010). In accord with literature linking poor self-regulation to poor school performance in general and foster care populations (e.g., Matthews et al, 2009; Pears, Fisher et al, 2010), poor self-regulation at the end of elementary school was associated with poorer academic competence at the end of the 2 nd year of middle school, indicating that it is a risk factor for poorer performance in middle school.…”

The Contribution of Internal Resources, External Resources, and Emotional Distress to Use of Drugs and Alcohol Among Israeli Jewish Urban Adolescents

“…Adolescents who use drugs are considered to be in greater distress (Harel, 2002). Some researchers claim that internal resources are more crucial in situations of personal vulnerability (Burt, 2002;Conger, Conger, Matthews, & Elder, 1999;Lipschitz-Elhawi & Itzhaky, 2008). Moreover, because alcohol consumption is viewed more as a social activity (Engels & Bogt, 2001), external resources such as parental and peer support may have a stronger impact.…”

The effectiveness of a child day-care program in child welfare services

“…The CDC itself has shown to be a valuable family preservation resource, in line with the evidence-based movement that is gaining ground in the family support arena. Promoting children's quality of life is fundamental for their positive development and to protect them from risk factors present in their environments (Campione-Barr, Basset, & Kruse, 2013;Lipschitz-Elhawi & Itzhaky, 2008). Thus, the positive effect CDC has had on children's quality of life proves that this kind of resource must be included in the services portfolio of child welfare agencies.…”