Adolescents and social support situations.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Adolescents require social support, but needs vary by situation.
• Existing measures may not capture context-specific support-seeking behaviors.
• Understanding these nuances is crucial for effective adolescent well-being interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Adolescent Need for Social Support Questionnaire (ANSSQ).
• To investigate situational differences in adolescents' needs for parent versus peer support.
• To examine gender differences in social support seeking.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews with adolescents to inform questionnaire development.
• Quantitative testing of the ANSSQ on a sample of 380 Swedish 15-year-olds.
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze the questionnaire's factor structure and psychometric properties.

Main Results:

• The ANSSQ demonstrated a reliable 3-component structure: "Home and school," "Low mood," and "Sex and alcohol."
• Parental support was favored for "Home and school" issues, while peers were preferred for "Low mood" and "Sex and alcohol" situations.
• Females reported seeking support more often than males, and seeking parental support correlated with disclosure and inversely with secrecy.

Conclusions:

• The ANSSQ is a psychometrically sound instrument for assessing context-specific adolescent social support needs.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering situational factors and gender in adolescent support systems.
• The study suggests adapting social support measures to specific contexts for greater relevance and utility.