Perceived social support and dysfunctioning in "clinical" and "normal" adolescents

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which inpatient and non-patient samples of youngsters differ from each other with regard to prevalence and co-occurrence of emotional and behavioural problems and negative perceptions of family, school and peers. The sample comprised 202 12-21-year-old adolescents: 101 psychiatric inpatients and 101 matched "community-based" youngsters. Possible differences between the subgroups were tested by means of multi-variate analysis of variance and relative risk ratios. All specific problems and combination patterns were reported significantly more often by the "inpatient" than by the "non-patient" youngsters. However, after correcting for differences in base rates, only the combination of emotional and/or behavioural problems and family problems remained significant. The combination of emotional and family problems was reported about 12 times more often and the combination of behavioural and family problems even about 21 times more often by adolescents in the "clinical" sample than by those in the "normal" sample. Two important conclusions were drawn: (1) co-occurrence in itself did not appear to be the distinguishing factor between the "clinical" and the "normal" sample; and (2) a dominant role of negatively perceived family support in adolescent functioning was suggested. The implications of these findings are discussed.