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

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Adolescent mental health is a significant concern.
• Understanding the factors differentiating clinical and community samples is crucial for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare emotional and behavioral problems, and perceptions of family, school, and peers between inpatient and community-based adolescents.
• To identify specific co-occurring problems that distinguish clinical from non-clinical adolescent populations.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 202 adolescents (101 psychiatric inpatients, 101 matched community controls).
• Multivariate analysis of variance and relative risk ratios were used to analyze differences.
• Data collected on emotional, behavioral, and family problems, and perceptions of school and peers.

Main Results:

• Inpatient adolescents reported higher prevalence and co-occurrence of problems compared to community samples.
• After adjusting for base rates, only the combination of emotional/behavioral problems with family problems remained a significant differentiator.
• Adolescents in the clinical sample showed a 12-fold higher rate of emotional and family problems, and a 21-fold higher rate of behavioral and family problems.

Conclusions:

• Co-occurrence of problems alone does not distinguish clinical from non-clinical adolescent samples.
• Negative perceptions of family support play a dominant role in adolescent mental health and functioning.
• Findings highlight the critical impact of family dynamics on adolescent psychiatric conditions.