For a study, researchers sought to investigate how psychosocial resources encouraged and protected youth’s school adjustment (academic success, school engagement, and behavior) and psychological well-being (absence of emotional symptoms) during the economic downturn using a quasi-experimental methodology. About 3 family resources (financial well-being, parental education, and school involvement) and 1 personal resource were examined (self-efficacy). Data was gathered using a variety of methodologies and informants. Investigators studied 2 cohorts of teenagers who resided in the same neighborhoods, 1 before (2005; N=1,057; age M=12.7 years) and 1 after (2013; N=1,052; age M=12.6 years) the economic recession. In the economic recession, variable- and person-focused analyses found that parental education and school involvement supported and protected youth’s school adjustment. In addition, families’ economic welfare was associated with both externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Another significant result was that, despite having fewer resources, adolescents who demonstrated positive adaptation during the economic crisis were just as well adjusted as youth who were well adjusted before the economic crisis. Finally, adolescents with more adequate psychosocial resources during the crisis could maintain the same high degree of adaption that well-adjusted young people had before the crisis. The findings were consistent across gender and immigration status. The findings implied that psychological resources were critical in explaining school adjustment and well-being variation among youth during a big economic downturn.
Sour:onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jad.12055
