The contexts of adolescents' chronic life stressors

Proposed and tested a model of the determinants of adolescents' chronic life stressors, consisting of sociodemographic, personal, and contextual stress and coping factors, using baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 259 adolescents who varied in their psychological and physical health. Concurrent regression analyses at Time 1 and at Time 2, and longitudinal regressions that controlled for the levels of chronic stressors 1 year earlier, showed that sociodemographic, personal, and contextual factors each made a significant contribution to predicting adolescents' ongoing stressors with their mother, father, siblings friends and classmates and teachers at school. Personal factors of an emotional temperament and low perceived self-worth, and contextual factors of more negative life events and fewer social resources, were related to more chronic stressors. Suggestions for further development of the model are discussed.