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A Test of the Economic Strain Model on Adolescents' Prosocial Behaviors
Author(s) -
Carlo Gustavo,
PadillaWalker Laura M.,
Day Randal D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00742.x
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , social connectedness , psychology , context (archaeology) , developmental psychology , structural equation modeling , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , social psychology , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , macroeconomics , economics , biology
The present study was designed to examine the links between economic strain, parental depression, parent–child connectedness, and adolescents' prosocial behaviors. The sample consisted of 478 participants ( M age at Time 1=11.29 years, 51% male) recruited from the community who were mostly of European American descent (69%) and from mostly middle to upper SES families. At Time 1 parents completed measures of their own income and economic stress, depression, and connectedness with their child. At Time 1 adolescents reported on connectedness with both their mother and father. At Time 2 (1 year later) adolescents reported on their own prosocial behavior toward strangers, friends, and family. Structural equation model tests showed that economic strain was related positively to parental depressive symptoms, which in turn predicted lower levels of parent–child connectedness, which in turn positively predicted adolescents' prosocial behaviors. Discussion focuses on the family context of adolescents' positive behavioral outcomes.