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Family economic stress, maternal and paternal support and adolescent distress
7oloxal
of Arlolescerlce
1990, 13, 217-229
Family economic stress, maternal and paternal support and adolescent distress JACQUES
D. LEMPERS*
AND
DANIA
CLARK-LEMPERSt
The present study investigated the effects of family economic stress on parental support and adolescent maladjustment in 622 9th through 12th graders in a Midwestern farm community. Economic stress had a direct effect on adolescent depressive symptoms, delinquency and drug use. The findings also indicated an indirect effect: increased stress was associated with lower paternal support for female, but not male adolescents, and lower paternal support for females was associated with higher female distress.
INTRODUCTION
At every phase of the life-span, human beings are exposed to a variety of stressful events. Most of the research interest in the effect of stress on physical and psychological health has focused on adults (Kessler, Price and Wortman, 1985). Increasingly, however, there is interest in the study of stress and its effects on coping and adaptation in infants, children and adolescents (Compas, 1987; Johnson, 1986). The present study investigates the role of perceived maternal and paternal support in the stress-distress relationship in adolescents in economically stressed families. Several studies have shown that family economic stress is associated with a variety of both physical and psychological distress symptoms in children and adolescents (McLoyd, 1989). Three main issues are addressed in this study: first, there is concern with determining how economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress are interrelated; second, consideration is given to the possibility that maternal support may perform a different function than paternal support in the relationship between economic stress and adolescent distress; and a third concern deals with any variation in the relationships between economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress as a function of the sex of the child receiving the support. Social support has been considered a key moderator variable in the linkage * Reprint requests should be addressed to Jacques D. Lempers, 205 Richards, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, U.S.A. t Ames Community Schools and Iowa State University. 014O-1971/90/030217
+ 13 $03.00/O
0
1990 The
~Association
Child Development
for the Psychiatric
Study
Department,
of Adolescents
218
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
between stress and physical and psychological health in both adult and developmental studies (Cohen and Wills, 1985). Several different conceptualizations of the role of social support in the stress-distress relationship have been discussed in the literature (Wheaton, 1985). For the present study the question of the role of parental support revolves around the issue of whether parental support acts as a moderator variable, as a suppressor variable or as an explanatory variable (Wheaton, 1985). Evidence for parental support as a moderator variable would be indicated by the presence of an interaction between economic stress and parental support such that the stress-induced distress would be significantly attenuated at higher levels of parental support. As a suppressor variable, the stress-buffering effect of parental support would increase as levels of economic stress increase, indicating a positive relationship between these two variables; therefore, more stress would yield more distress-reducing support. For paternal support to function as an explanatory variable it would have to have a negative relationship with economic stress: more stress would lead to less distress-reducing support. Research on the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930s and of the recessions of the 1980s on children and families has shown that those effects are mediated through changes in the parenting behavior of the father (McLoyd, 1989). Elder, Van Nguyen and Caspi (1985) found that fathers who suffered severe income loss in the Great Depression became significantly more irritable, tense and explosive. These changes were linked to more punitive, arbitrary, and rejecting parenting by the father, and, in turn, these fathering behaviors were related to more temper tantrums and difficult and irritable behaviors in their younger children and to more personal distress in their adolescent daughters. The parenting behavior of mothers was not found to be affected by economic hardship. Johnson and Abramovitch (1985) found that involuntarily unemployed fathers with primary caretaking responsibilities for their children, described their children in less positive ways and attached less importance to parenting skills than unemployed fathers without primary caretaking roles. Galambos and Silbereisen (1987~) found that loss of income was associated with a more pessimistic life outlook in fathers which, in turn, was related to lower expectations for future job success in their adolescent daughters. The results of these and other studies on the effects of adverse economic times (Kelly, Sheldon and Fox, 1985), led to the prediction in the present study that family economic stress would increase distress in both male and female adolescents. Secondly, it was hypothesized that both maternal and paternal support would decrease distress in both male and female adolescents. In studies on the effects of social support on psychological and/or physical well-being of children and adolescents there is strong evidence of a direct relation between support and health (Compas, 1987). A third hypothesis
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND DISTRESS
219
stated that family economic hardship would decrease paternal support for the female, but not the male adolescents. Reports by sons and daughters on their parents’ childrearing behaviors provide evidence for the existence of fatherspecific differences in the perceptions of their sons and daughters (Siegal, 1987). Not only do sons approve more of fathers than do daughters (Bixenstine, DeCorte and Bixenstine, 1976; Siegal and Barclay, 1985), girls perceive their relationship with their father as lacking in intimacy and emotional involvement (Wright and Keple, 1981; Younsis and Smollar, 1985). The decrease in the family’s economic well-being was thought to lead to a more accentuated perception by the female adolescents of an increasingly non-supportive father, coping with his feelings of responsibility and guilt for the family’s economic situation and externalizing those feelings in more physical and rejection-oriented control techniques. These three stated hypotheses imply that paternal support would function as an explanatory variable, having a stress-accrual effect, while maternal support would not be an explanatory variable. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between family economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress. Adolescents’ perceptions of each of the constructs involved were assessed. As several authors (Garmezy and Rutter, 1983) have argued, life events cannot be studied without reference to how an individual appraises those events. Life-style adjustments made by the parents as a result of income loss are experienced by everyone in the family. It is these adaptations which become the effective indicators of changes in the financial situation of the family for these children. Such changes influence the daily life of the child and make family income loss an everyday reality. The self-report measure provides the researcher with a valuable tool because, as McLoyd (1989) argues: ‘Since children’s perceptions are probably powerful predictors of their adjustment to economic hardship, special efforts should be made to determine the child’s perspective” (1989, p. 14).
METHOD
Participants The sample consisted of 622 participants in the 9th through 12th grades in a small Midwestern community of approximately 10,000 people. Farming is the main industry of the county in which the town is located, with several agricultural-related industries providing employment opportunities for the local population. The average value of farmland in the county dropped from an all-time high of $2450 per acre in 1981 to $891 per acre in the year the data were collected (1987-1988 Statistical Profile of Iowa). As a result of the crisis
J.
220
Il.
LEMPERS
Ah-D
Il.
CL.iRK-LEMPERS
in the agricultural industry, the town and the county were in the midst of an economic downturn at the time of data collection (Chamber of Commerce, personal communication). Of the 14.5 9th graders of the 1.54 10th graders the 166 11th graders
(mean age: 14.8 years),
(mean age: 15.6 years),
(mean age: 16.7 years),
79 were male and 87 female;
of the 157 12th graders (mean age: 17.8 years), These students attended a Catholic high school teered to have the school with the parents. The section of youngsters school.
participate
67 were male and 78 female;
85 were male and 69 female;
of and
73 were male and 84 female. whose administrators volun-
in the study after discussing
the project
town is predominantly Catholic so that a good crossliving in the community attend the local Catholic
Of the 622 adolescents
who comprised
the sample,
250 said they lived
on a farm.
Each student filled out a set of questionnaires. Family economic stress was assessed by a 12-item Economic Hardship Questionnaire (Lempers, ClarkLempers living. liability,
and Simons, Cronbach’s equalled
1989) and focused
coefficient 0.86
on changes
in the family’s
style of
alpha,
a measure of internal consistency refor this measure . A principal factor analysis showed
the measure to be unidimensional with the one factor accounting for 34.75 per cent of the variance. The convergent validity of this adolescent hardship questionnaire and Netusil,
was established 1990).
in a separate
study (Clark-Lempers,
Maternal and paternal support were measured by Furman ter’s (1985) Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI).
Lempers
and BuhrmesFor both the
maternal and paternal support scale, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha equalled 0.93. Principal factor analyses indicated that both scales were unidimensional with the resulting
factors
accounting
for, respectively,
52.7 per cent and 5 1.4
per cent of the maternal and paternal support scale. Four different questionnaires were used to assess distress. Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI, 1972) was used as a measure of depressive symptoms; coefficient alpha for the scale was 0.91. Fourteen items from the 24-item Loneliness questionnaire by Asher, Hymel and Renshaw (1984) were used to assess loneliness; coefficient alpha equalled 0.91. Elliott, Huizinga and Ageton’s (1985) Delinquency and Drug questionnaires were used as additional measures of distress; coefficient alpha’s equalled 0.87 and 0.82, respectively. A principal factor analysis of the combined 71 items of these four distress questionnaires retained a Depression-Loneliness factor and a Delinquency-Drug Use factor, accounting for, respectively, 16.75 per cent and 12.5 per cent of the variance.
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
DISTRESS
221
These different aspects of distress were evaluated because research has shown that stressed parents are more likely to be parent-centered and nonsupportive in their childrearing practices and that these practices are associated with depression, loneliness, delinquency and drug use (Maccoby and Martin, 1983).
Procedure The set of self-report questionnaires was administered to all students in their individual classrooms during a one hour time block reserved for this purpose by the school administrators. The first author explained the purpose of the study, emphasizing that participation was voluntary. No questionnaires were returned blank. Classroom teachers helped supervise the administration of the questionnaires. This supervision consisted of handing out the set of questionnaires to the students in the teachers’ respective classrooms and collecting the finished questionnaires. The first author or his assistant visited each classroom several times during the one-hour time period to answer any questions raised by the respondents; however, very few questions were asked by the students.
RESULTS
AVOVAfindings The analysis of variance for family economic stress showed significant main effects for grade, F(3, 528) = 3.61, p < O-01, and for domicile (farm versus non-farm), F( 1, 528) = 31.78, p < 0.001. The 12th graders reported significantly higher levels of family economic stress thanthe 9th, 10th and 11th graders. Participants living on a farm reported significantly more hardship than their non-farm counterparts. For maternal support, significant effects were found for sex, F( 1, 503) = 11.22, p < O*OOOl, and for the interaction between sex and domicile, F( 1, 503) = 4.98, p < 0*05. Non-farm adolescents reported more maternal support than farm male adolescents, while non-farm female adolescents reported less maternal support than farm female adolescents. No significant effects were found for paternal support. The ANOVA for depression-loneliness showed a significant main effect for sex, F( 1, 516) = 15.44, p < 0.001, and a significant interaction effect between sex and grade, F(3, 516) = 3.03, p < 0.05. For delinquency-drug use there were significant main effects for sex, F(l, 537) = 56.98, p < O-001, for grade, F(3, 537) = 15.25, p < O*OOl, and for domicile, F(l, 537) = 6.04, p < 0.01. Males, 11th and 12th graders, and non-farm adolescents reported
222
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
more delinquency and drug use than, graders, and farm adolescents.
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
respectively,
females,
9th and
10th
Multiple regression anulyses The model statement in the multiple regression analyses for each of the two distress factors included as predictor variables family economic stress, sex coded as a dummy variable, maternal support, paternal support and the twoway interactions between economic stress and sex, stress and maternal support, stress and paternal support, sex and maternal support, and sex and paternal support. When only the interaction between economic stress and sex reached significance, follow-up regression analyses were run which left the other four interaction terms out of the model statement. The t;’ value for the model was highly significant for both depression-loneliness, k’(5, 567) = 43.81, p < O*OOOl, and delinquency-drug use, F(5, 581) = 17.54, p < O*OOOl. The variables in the model accounted for 27 per cent of the variance in depression-loneliness and for 12 per cent of the variance in delinquency-drug use (these values are almost identical to those with the nineterm model statement). As predicted, the unstandardized beta-coefficient for family economic stress was significant and positive for the depressionloneliness distress factor (b = 0.26, t = 4.90, p < 0.0001). The coefficients for maternal (b = -0~07, t = -2.19, p < O-03) and paternal (b = -0.16, t = -5.01,~ < O*OOOl) support were, as predicted, significant and negative. For the delinquency-drug use distress factor the beta-coefficient for family economic stress was significant and positive (b = 0.16, t = 3.52,~ < O*OOOS); the beta-coefficient for paternal support was significant and negative (b = -0.06, t = -2.26, p < 0*02), but the one for maternal support was not significant (b = -0.01, t = -0.46, p < 0.6). The beta-coefficient for the interaction term between family economic stress and sex, coded as a dummy variable, was significant and negative (b = -0.16, t = -2.69, p < 0.007). This significant interaction indicated that the relationship between economic stress and delinquency-drug use was different for males than for females. The results of the path analysis clarified this difference.
Path-analytic
fifindirlgs
In the path analyses, family economic stress was treated as an exogenous variable, and paternal and maternal support and the two distress variables as endogenous variables. Separate models for males and females were constructed based on findings and theoretical perspectives of earlier studies
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
Maternal
Maternal
/L~IL5\
/44;~;18\
Economic stress
> DepressIon /loneliness
Economic stress
x- Depresston /loneliness
Males/Maternal
Females/Mctterml
Paternal
Poternal
/z;:\ Economic stress
223
DISTRESS
/23Yh&_ l
Males/fWemal
Depression /loneliness
Economic stress
>
r /loneliness
FemaledPatemal
Figure 1. paternal
Unstandardized path coefficients between economic stress, maternal and support, and male and female depression-loneliness. *p < 0.05. "*p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.
(Elder et al., 1985) and supported by the significant interaction in the multiple regression analyses between family economic stress and sex for delinquency-drug use. Figure 1 shows the results of the path analyses for the depression-loneliness variable by source of social support and by sex. For both males and females, the coefficients of the paths between family economic stress and depressionloneliness and between maternal and paternal support and this distress factor are significant. The path coefficient between economic stress and maternal support was not significant for either males or females; the path coefficient between stress and paternal support was significant for the females but not for the males. Figure 2 shows the path-analytic results for the delinquency-drug use variable. The coefficients of the paths between economic stress and delinquency-drug use and between both paternal and maternal support and this second distress factor were significant for the males. For the females a significant path coefficient was found between paternal support and delinquency-drug use; the path coefficient between maternal support and this distress factor approached significance (p < 0.07). The path coefficient between economic stress and this distress variable was not significant for the females.
J. I). LEMPERS
224
AND
1). CLARK-LEMPERS
Maternal
A6
Maternal
‘““‘P’b.,\
//&
Econonw L stress
Delmquency /drug use
’
Economic stress
z+ Delinquency /drug use
MalesIMoternal
Females/Maternal
Paternal
Paternal
/9z*o_:.12\ Economic stress
sz;_O\
/Lz.B\
*
> Delinquency /drug use
Moles/Paternal
Economtc stress
*
> Delmquency /drug use
Females/Paternal
Figure 2. Unstandardized path coefficients between economic stress, maternal and paternal support, and male and female delinquency-drug use. *p < 0.05. “*p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.
DISCUSSION The present study was a cross-sectional, single-wave snapshot of how rural youth perceived family economic stress, resulting from the downturn in the agricultural economy, to effect their parental support levels and their own distress. The cross-sectional nature of the data imposes limitations which should lead to caution in the interpretation of the data (Gollob and Keichardt, 1987). Longitudinal, multi-wave data obtained from a variety of informants using multiple data-collection methods are needed to provide strong evidence for making causal inferences. However, even though one cannot rule out alternative interpretations of the obtained correlational patterns of relationships between the variables investigated due to the cross-sectional nature of the data, these data nevertheless become compelling to the extent that they are consistent with the results of other studies, both longitudinal and crosssectional. The findings obtained in this study clearly replicate the results of other studies of the effects of income loss on parents and their children (McLoyd, 1989).
As the ANOVA results indicate, farm adolescents report a substantially higher level of economic stress than non-farm adolescents. This finding was
STRESS,
SUPPORT AND DISTRESS
225
expected because the primary victims of the economic downturn in the agricultural industry have been farm families. The ANOVA results for the two distress factors were consistent with findings of other studies. Female adolescents reported more depression than male adolescents (Reynolds, 1985). A higher incidence of delinquency and drug use was found among males than females and among older versus younger adolescents (Gold and Petronio, 1980).
Regression- and path-analytic
results
No evidence of a moderator role for either paternal or maternal support was found. The accumulated developmental evidence does not appear to justify drawing any firm conclusions about the plausibility of the assumption that stress-induced distress will be significantly decreased at higher levels of support. This is in contrast to the adult literature where there is strong evidence for the interactive stress-buffering model in studies where the support scales measure the perceived availability of interpersonal resources responsive to the stressed person’s needs (Cohen and Wills, 1985). As pointed out by Compas (1987), different developmental studies have measured different aspects of both social support and distress; in addition, studies have used different support and distress measures on different age-groups. This lack of consistency, in what kinds of stress, social support and distress are measured, how they are assessed and in which age-groups, precludes any tentative generalization about a possible moderating effect of support on stress. Economic stress was found to account for an increase in both male and female depression-loneliness and in male delinquency-drug use. Economic stress also accounted for a decrease in paternal support for females. No stressinduced change in maternal support for either males or females occurred. Paternal and maternal support were found to decrease distress in the form of depression-loneliness for both the males and the females; they had a similar effect on delinquency-drug use for the males, but for the females only paternal support was significantly effective. These path-analytic findings are consistent with results of other studies (Elder, Liker and Cross, 1984; Elder, Nguyen and Caspi, 1985; Galambos and Silbereisen, 1987a; 19873; Kelly et al., 1985; McLoyd, 1989). In their study of the effects of the Great Depression Elder et al. (1985) found that the hard times of the economic downturn of the 1930s increased distress in their male and female adolescent participants. The manner in which this increase was realized was different for the males than for the females. For the males the effect was a direct result of the economic hardship. A similar finding was obtained in this study. The association between economic stress and male depression-loneliness and male
226
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
delinquency-drug use was not mediated by changes in parental support. For the females in Elder et al.‘s study (1985) the increased distress resulted indirectly from the stress-induced worsening of punitive, arbitrary and rejecting parenting by fathers. The finding in this study of an association between economic stress and decreased paternal support for females is in line with the Elder et al. (1985) findings. Some of the increase in female depression-loneliness results from the decrease in amount of paternal support for daughters. Thus the total effect of stress is the sum of a direct and an indirect effect, supporting what Lempers and Clark-Lempers (1989) have termed the “stress-accrual” model. Why do the daughters and not the sons perceive themselves to be the victims of decreased paternal support? Siegal (1987), reviewing studies of possible differential treatment of sons and daughters by mothers and fathers, provides clear evidence that fathers differentiate more than mothers between boys and girls. Fathers are stricter, firmer, more physical and directive with boys than with girls. In addition, he cites several studies providing evidence for father-specific differences in the perceptions of sons and daughters of mothers’ and fathers’ childrearing behaviors. Boys perceive the father in more masculine terms than girls, and are more approving than girls of the father’s discipline and firm control techniques, while girls perceive a lack of intimacy and emotional involvement. These differential perceptions are consistent with the father’s differential socialization behaviors. If, as Elder et al.‘s (1985) data indicate, the parenting behavior of the father becomes more physically punitive, arbitrary, inconsistent and rejective under conditions of family economic stress and if sons are more approving of those behaviors than daughters as the studies reviewed by Siegal (1987) imply, then such increased parenting behavior by the stressed father might lead daughters, more than sons, to perceive their father as increasingly non-supportive. Another reason why daughters and not sons might perceive themselves to be the victims of less paternal support might simply be that sons tend to spend considerably more time with their peers outside the home than daughters; therefore, the daughters are more available to be the recipient of the non-supportive paternal behaviors (McLoyd, 1989). Differential effects of family stress factors on male versus female children at diferent developmental points have been amply documented (Garmezy and Rutter, 1983). The results of this study have several implications for further research. Although, as suggested by this and similar studies (McLoyd, 1989), there is an association between economic stress conditions in families and child adolescent maladjustment, a need for prospective, longitudinal research exists to provide data to indicate that increasing economic strain is the primary cause of the changes in parent-child relations and of child and adolescent problems (Siegal, 1984).
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
DISTRESS
227
The findings of this study that parental support not only might act as a buffer against the undesirable consequences of adverse economic changes but also might be diminished due to those changes, as was the case with paternal support for females in this study, have relevance for intervention and social policy planning. Preventive family intervention and social welfare programs should focus on increasing both intra- and extra-family sources of support for families coping with a decrease in economic well-being. In particular, efforts could be made to increase older children’s and adolescents’ understanding of both their parents’ feelings of their own family’s economic need as well as of the uncontrollable factors which might have precipitated that need. The possible role of family support in sustaining positive family relationships in times of economic stress needs to be emphasized (Gore, 1978). In addition, other support groups for both parents and children, through schools, churches and other community institutions, could be harnessed to insulate families against the negative psychological impact of an economic decline.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project was made possible by grants from Institute of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station at Iowa sity. The authors want to thank the school administrators, students who volunteered for this project.
the Research and the Iowa State Univerteachers, and
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Elder, G. H., Jr, Liker, J. and Cross, C. (1984). Parent-child behavior in the Great Depression: Life course and intergenerational influences. In L$e span development and behavior, Baltes, P. and Brim, 0. (Eds), Vol. 6, pp. 109-158. New York: Academic Press. Elder, G. H., Van Nguyen, T. V. and Caspi, A. (1985). Linking family hardship to children’s lives. Child Development, 85, 361-375.
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S. (1978). The effect of social support in moderating the health consequences of unemployment. Joltrnal of Health and Social Behavior-, 19, 157-165. Johnson, J. H. (1986). bfe msents as stressors it1 childhood arid c~rlo1rsc.c~rlc.c~. Beverleb Hills, CA: Sage. Johnson, L. and Abramovitch, R. (1985). C’m~nrplvyc~rl,Jbtkers: I’tr~~rtii~,y irr a charrging laboat-market (ISBN O-919456-30-8). Toronto, Canada: Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto. dislocation on the Kelly, R., Sheldon, A. and Fox, G. (1985). Th e impact of economic health of children. In The impact ofpozv,~~ and ~~rie~~~pl~~~~~~e~~t m chiltir~xv~,Boulet , J., Debritto, A. M. and Ray, S. A. (Eds), pp. 04-108. Ann .\rbor: Cfniversity of Michigan Bush Program in Child Development and Social Policy. Kessler, R. C., Price, R. H. and Wortman, C. B. (1985). Social factors in psychopathology: Stress, social support, and coping processes. .bz~trrnl Revim r~f‘f’s~vholog~~,36, 531-572. Lempers, J. D. and Clark-Lempers, D. S. ( 1989). ‘I%c~~owc~t-is~,s al/t/ trtlr~lc.~c~~~/ distr.t,.ss. Paper presented at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Kansas City, Kansas. Lempers, J. D., Clark-Lempers, D. S. and Simons, R. L. (1989). Economic hardship, parenting, and distress in adolescence. Child De~x~lopme~~t, 60, 25-39. Maccoby, E. and Martin, J. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In Sociulization, personality and social tle~rlopme~rt. Ilamlbook ofrhild psychology, Mavis Hetherington, E. (Ed.), Vol. IV, pp. l-101. New York: Wiley. McLoyd, V. C. (1989). Socialization and development in a changing economy: The effects of paternal job and income loss on children. :brz~,~~crn Ps\&olr>gist, 44, 293302. Reynolds, W. M. (1985). Depression in childhood and adolescence: Diagnosis, asscssment, intervention strategies, and research. In .M_~ancrs i,z School I’sy~hol~~g~~. Kratochwill, T. R. (Ed.), Vol. 4, pp. 133-189. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum. Siegal, M. (1984). Economic deprivation and the quality of parent-child relations: .I trickle-down framework._7ournal ofApplied Decelopme~ztal Psychology, 5, 127-144. Siegal, M. (1987). Are sons and daughters treated more differently by fathers than I,! mothers? Dee!elopmental Rec,iezc, 7, 183-209.
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of Arlolescerlce
1990, 13, 217-229
Family economic stress, maternal and paternal support and adolescent distress JACQUES
D. LEMPERS*
AND
DANIA
CLARK-LEMPERSt
The present study investigated the effects of family economic stress on parental support and adolescent maladjustment in 622 9th through 12th graders in a Midwestern farm community. Economic stress had a direct effect on adolescent depressive symptoms, delinquency and drug use. The findings also indicated an indirect effect: increased stress was associated with lower paternal support for female, but not male adolescents, and lower paternal support for females was associated with higher female distress.
INTRODUCTION
At every phase of the life-span, human beings are exposed to a variety of stressful events. Most of the research interest in the effect of stress on physical and psychological health has focused on adults (Kessler, Price and Wortman, 1985). Increasingly, however, there is interest in the study of stress and its effects on coping and adaptation in infants, children and adolescents (Compas, 1987; Johnson, 1986). The present study investigates the role of perceived maternal and paternal support in the stress-distress relationship in adolescents in economically stressed families. Several studies have shown that family economic stress is associated with a variety of both physical and psychological distress symptoms in children and adolescents (McLoyd, 1989). Three main issues are addressed in this study: first, there is concern with determining how economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress are interrelated; second, consideration is given to the possibility that maternal support may perform a different function than paternal support in the relationship between economic stress and adolescent distress; and a third concern deals with any variation in the relationships between economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress as a function of the sex of the child receiving the support. Social support has been considered a key moderator variable in the linkage * Reprint requests should be addressed to Jacques D. Lempers, 205 Richards, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, U.S.A. t Ames Community Schools and Iowa State University. 014O-1971/90/030217
+ 13 $03.00/O
0
1990 The
~Association
Child Development
for the Psychiatric
Study
Department,
of Adolescents
218
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
between stress and physical and psychological health in both adult and developmental studies (Cohen and Wills, 1985). Several different conceptualizations of the role of social support in the stress-distress relationship have been discussed in the literature (Wheaton, 1985). For the present study the question of the role of parental support revolves around the issue of whether parental support acts as a moderator variable, as a suppressor variable or as an explanatory variable (Wheaton, 1985). Evidence for parental support as a moderator variable would be indicated by the presence of an interaction between economic stress and parental support such that the stress-induced distress would be significantly attenuated at higher levels of parental support. As a suppressor variable, the stress-buffering effect of parental support would increase as levels of economic stress increase, indicating a positive relationship between these two variables; therefore, more stress would yield more distress-reducing support. For paternal support to function as an explanatory variable it would have to have a negative relationship with economic stress: more stress would lead to less distress-reducing support. Research on the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930s and of the recessions of the 1980s on children and families has shown that those effects are mediated through changes in the parenting behavior of the father (McLoyd, 1989). Elder, Van Nguyen and Caspi (1985) found that fathers who suffered severe income loss in the Great Depression became significantly more irritable, tense and explosive. These changes were linked to more punitive, arbitrary, and rejecting parenting by the father, and, in turn, these fathering behaviors were related to more temper tantrums and difficult and irritable behaviors in their younger children and to more personal distress in their adolescent daughters. The parenting behavior of mothers was not found to be affected by economic hardship. Johnson and Abramovitch (1985) found that involuntarily unemployed fathers with primary caretaking responsibilities for their children, described their children in less positive ways and attached less importance to parenting skills than unemployed fathers without primary caretaking roles. Galambos and Silbereisen (1987~) found that loss of income was associated with a more pessimistic life outlook in fathers which, in turn, was related to lower expectations for future job success in their adolescent daughters. The results of these and other studies on the effects of adverse economic times (Kelly, Sheldon and Fox, 1985), led to the prediction in the present study that family economic stress would increase distress in both male and female adolescents. Secondly, it was hypothesized that both maternal and paternal support would decrease distress in both male and female adolescents. In studies on the effects of social support on psychological and/or physical well-being of children and adolescents there is strong evidence of a direct relation between support and health (Compas, 1987). A third hypothesis
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND DISTRESS
219
stated that family economic hardship would decrease paternal support for the female, but not the male adolescents. Reports by sons and daughters on their parents’ childrearing behaviors provide evidence for the existence of fatherspecific differences in the perceptions of their sons and daughters (Siegal, 1987). Not only do sons approve more of fathers than do daughters (Bixenstine, DeCorte and Bixenstine, 1976; Siegal and Barclay, 1985), girls perceive their relationship with their father as lacking in intimacy and emotional involvement (Wright and Keple, 1981; Younsis and Smollar, 1985). The decrease in the family’s economic well-being was thought to lead to a more accentuated perception by the female adolescents of an increasingly non-supportive father, coping with his feelings of responsibility and guilt for the family’s economic situation and externalizing those feelings in more physical and rejection-oriented control techniques. These three stated hypotheses imply that paternal support would function as an explanatory variable, having a stress-accrual effect, while maternal support would not be an explanatory variable. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between family economic stress, parental support and adolescent distress. Adolescents’ perceptions of each of the constructs involved were assessed. As several authors (Garmezy and Rutter, 1983) have argued, life events cannot be studied without reference to how an individual appraises those events. Life-style adjustments made by the parents as a result of income loss are experienced by everyone in the family. It is these adaptations which become the effective indicators of changes in the financial situation of the family for these children. Such changes influence the daily life of the child and make family income loss an everyday reality. The self-report measure provides the researcher with a valuable tool because, as McLoyd (1989) argues: ‘Since children’s perceptions are probably powerful predictors of their adjustment to economic hardship, special efforts should be made to determine the child’s perspective” (1989, p. 14).
METHOD
Participants The sample consisted of 622 participants in the 9th through 12th grades in a small Midwestern community of approximately 10,000 people. Farming is the main industry of the county in which the town is located, with several agricultural-related industries providing employment opportunities for the local population. The average value of farmland in the county dropped from an all-time high of $2450 per acre in 1981 to $891 per acre in the year the data were collected (1987-1988 Statistical Profile of Iowa). As a result of the crisis
J.
220
Il.
LEMPERS
Ah-D
Il.
CL.iRK-LEMPERS
in the agricultural industry, the town and the county were in the midst of an economic downturn at the time of data collection (Chamber of Commerce, personal communication). Of the 14.5 9th graders of the 1.54 10th graders the 166 11th graders
(mean age: 14.8 years),
(mean age: 15.6 years),
(mean age: 16.7 years),
79 were male and 87 female;
of the 157 12th graders (mean age: 17.8 years), These students attended a Catholic high school teered to have the school with the parents. The section of youngsters school.
participate
67 were male and 78 female;
85 were male and 69 female;
of and
73 were male and 84 female. whose administrators volun-
in the study after discussing
the project
town is predominantly Catholic so that a good crossliving in the community attend the local Catholic
Of the 622 adolescents
who comprised
the sample,
250 said they lived
on a farm.
Each student filled out a set of questionnaires. Family economic stress was assessed by a 12-item Economic Hardship Questionnaire (Lempers, ClarkLempers living. liability,
and Simons, Cronbach’s equalled
1989) and focused
coefficient 0.86
on changes
in the family’s
style of
alpha,
a measure of internal consistency refor this measure . A principal factor analysis showed
the measure to be unidimensional with the one factor accounting for 34.75 per cent of the variance. The convergent validity of this adolescent hardship questionnaire and Netusil,
was established 1990).
in a separate
study (Clark-Lempers,
Maternal and paternal support were measured by Furman ter’s (1985) Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI).
Lempers
and BuhrmesFor both the
maternal and paternal support scale, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha equalled 0.93. Principal factor analyses indicated that both scales were unidimensional with the resulting
factors
accounting
for, respectively,
52.7 per cent and 5 1.4
per cent of the maternal and paternal support scale. Four different questionnaires were used to assess distress. Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI, 1972) was used as a measure of depressive symptoms; coefficient alpha for the scale was 0.91. Fourteen items from the 24-item Loneliness questionnaire by Asher, Hymel and Renshaw (1984) were used to assess loneliness; coefficient alpha equalled 0.91. Elliott, Huizinga and Ageton’s (1985) Delinquency and Drug questionnaires were used as additional measures of distress; coefficient alpha’s equalled 0.87 and 0.82, respectively. A principal factor analysis of the combined 71 items of these four distress questionnaires retained a Depression-Loneliness factor and a Delinquency-Drug Use factor, accounting for, respectively, 16.75 per cent and 12.5 per cent of the variance.
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
DISTRESS
221
These different aspects of distress were evaluated because research has shown that stressed parents are more likely to be parent-centered and nonsupportive in their childrearing practices and that these practices are associated with depression, loneliness, delinquency and drug use (Maccoby and Martin, 1983).
Procedure The set of self-report questionnaires was administered to all students in their individual classrooms during a one hour time block reserved for this purpose by the school administrators. The first author explained the purpose of the study, emphasizing that participation was voluntary. No questionnaires were returned blank. Classroom teachers helped supervise the administration of the questionnaires. This supervision consisted of handing out the set of questionnaires to the students in the teachers’ respective classrooms and collecting the finished questionnaires. The first author or his assistant visited each classroom several times during the one-hour time period to answer any questions raised by the respondents; however, very few questions were asked by the students.
RESULTS
AVOVAfindings The analysis of variance for family economic stress showed significant main effects for grade, F(3, 528) = 3.61, p < O-01, and for domicile (farm versus non-farm), F( 1, 528) = 31.78, p < 0.001. The 12th graders reported significantly higher levels of family economic stress thanthe 9th, 10th and 11th graders. Participants living on a farm reported significantly more hardship than their non-farm counterparts. For maternal support, significant effects were found for sex, F( 1, 503) = 11.22, p < O*OOOl, and for the interaction between sex and domicile, F( 1, 503) = 4.98, p < 0*05. Non-farm adolescents reported more maternal support than farm male adolescents, while non-farm female adolescents reported less maternal support than farm female adolescents. No significant effects were found for paternal support. The ANOVA for depression-loneliness showed a significant main effect for sex, F( 1, 516) = 15.44, p < 0.001, and a significant interaction effect between sex and grade, F(3, 516) = 3.03, p < 0.05. For delinquency-drug use there were significant main effects for sex, F(l, 537) = 56.98, p < O-001, for grade, F(3, 537) = 15.25, p < O*OOl, and for domicile, F(l, 537) = 6.04, p < 0.01. Males, 11th and 12th graders, and non-farm adolescents reported
222
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
more delinquency and drug use than, graders, and farm adolescents.
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
respectively,
females,
9th and
10th
Multiple regression anulyses The model statement in the multiple regression analyses for each of the two distress factors included as predictor variables family economic stress, sex coded as a dummy variable, maternal support, paternal support and the twoway interactions between economic stress and sex, stress and maternal support, stress and paternal support, sex and maternal support, and sex and paternal support. When only the interaction between economic stress and sex reached significance, follow-up regression analyses were run which left the other four interaction terms out of the model statement. The t;’ value for the model was highly significant for both depression-loneliness, k’(5, 567) = 43.81, p < O*OOOl, and delinquency-drug use, F(5, 581) = 17.54, p < O*OOOl. The variables in the model accounted for 27 per cent of the variance in depression-loneliness and for 12 per cent of the variance in delinquency-drug use (these values are almost identical to those with the nineterm model statement). As predicted, the unstandardized beta-coefficient for family economic stress was significant and positive for the depressionloneliness distress factor (b = 0.26, t = 4.90, p < 0.0001). The coefficients for maternal (b = -0~07, t = -2.19, p < O-03) and paternal (b = -0.16, t = -5.01,~ < O*OOOl) support were, as predicted, significant and negative. For the delinquency-drug use distress factor the beta-coefficient for family economic stress was significant and positive (b = 0.16, t = 3.52,~ < O*OOOS); the beta-coefficient for paternal support was significant and negative (b = -0.06, t = -2.26, p < 0*02), but the one for maternal support was not significant (b = -0.01, t = -0.46, p < 0.6). The beta-coefficient for the interaction term between family economic stress and sex, coded as a dummy variable, was significant and negative (b = -0.16, t = -2.69, p < 0.007). This significant interaction indicated that the relationship between economic stress and delinquency-drug use was different for males than for females. The results of the path analysis clarified this difference.
Path-analytic
fifindirlgs
In the path analyses, family economic stress was treated as an exogenous variable, and paternal and maternal support and the two distress variables as endogenous variables. Separate models for males and females were constructed based on findings and theoretical perspectives of earlier studies
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
Maternal
Maternal
/L~IL5\
/44;~;18\
Economic stress
> DepressIon /loneliness
Economic stress
x- Depresston /loneliness
Males/Maternal
Females/Mctterml
Paternal
Poternal
/z;:\ Economic stress
223
DISTRESS
/23Yh&_ l
Males/fWemal
Depression /loneliness
Economic stress
>
r /loneliness
FemaledPatemal
Figure 1. paternal
Unstandardized path coefficients between economic stress, maternal and support, and male and female depression-loneliness. *p < 0.05. "*p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.
(Elder et al., 1985) and supported by the significant interaction in the multiple regression analyses between family economic stress and sex for delinquency-drug use. Figure 1 shows the results of the path analyses for the depression-loneliness variable by source of social support and by sex. For both males and females, the coefficients of the paths between family economic stress and depressionloneliness and between maternal and paternal support and this distress factor are significant. The path coefficient between economic stress and maternal support was not significant for either males or females; the path coefficient between stress and paternal support was significant for the females but not for the males. Figure 2 shows the path-analytic results for the delinquency-drug use variable. The coefficients of the paths between economic stress and delinquency-drug use and between both paternal and maternal support and this second distress factor were significant for the males. For the females a significant path coefficient was found between paternal support and delinquency-drug use; the path coefficient between maternal support and this distress factor approached significance (p < 0.07). The path coefficient between economic stress and this distress variable was not significant for the females.
J. I). LEMPERS
224
AND
1). CLARK-LEMPERS
Maternal
A6
Maternal
‘““‘P’b.,\
//&
Econonw L stress
Delmquency /drug use
’
Economic stress
z+ Delinquency /drug use
MalesIMoternal
Females/Maternal
Paternal
Paternal
/9z*o_:.12\ Economic stress
sz;_O\
/Lz.B\
*
> Delinquency /drug use
Moles/Paternal
Economtc stress
*
> Delmquency /drug use
Females/Paternal
Figure 2. Unstandardized path coefficients between economic stress, maternal and paternal support, and male and female delinquency-drug use. *p < 0.05. “*p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.
DISCUSSION The present study was a cross-sectional, single-wave snapshot of how rural youth perceived family economic stress, resulting from the downturn in the agricultural economy, to effect their parental support levels and their own distress. The cross-sectional nature of the data imposes limitations which should lead to caution in the interpretation of the data (Gollob and Keichardt, 1987). Longitudinal, multi-wave data obtained from a variety of informants using multiple data-collection methods are needed to provide strong evidence for making causal inferences. However, even though one cannot rule out alternative interpretations of the obtained correlational patterns of relationships between the variables investigated due to the cross-sectional nature of the data, these data nevertheless become compelling to the extent that they are consistent with the results of other studies, both longitudinal and crosssectional. The findings obtained in this study clearly replicate the results of other studies of the effects of income loss on parents and their children (McLoyd, 1989).
As the ANOVA results indicate, farm adolescents report a substantially higher level of economic stress than non-farm adolescents. This finding was
STRESS,
SUPPORT AND DISTRESS
225
expected because the primary victims of the economic downturn in the agricultural industry have been farm families. The ANOVA results for the two distress factors were consistent with findings of other studies. Female adolescents reported more depression than male adolescents (Reynolds, 1985). A higher incidence of delinquency and drug use was found among males than females and among older versus younger adolescents (Gold and Petronio, 1980).
Regression- and path-analytic
results
No evidence of a moderator role for either paternal or maternal support was found. The accumulated developmental evidence does not appear to justify drawing any firm conclusions about the plausibility of the assumption that stress-induced distress will be significantly decreased at higher levels of support. This is in contrast to the adult literature where there is strong evidence for the interactive stress-buffering model in studies where the support scales measure the perceived availability of interpersonal resources responsive to the stressed person’s needs (Cohen and Wills, 1985). As pointed out by Compas (1987), different developmental studies have measured different aspects of both social support and distress; in addition, studies have used different support and distress measures on different age-groups. This lack of consistency, in what kinds of stress, social support and distress are measured, how they are assessed and in which age-groups, precludes any tentative generalization about a possible moderating effect of support on stress. Economic stress was found to account for an increase in both male and female depression-loneliness and in male delinquency-drug use. Economic stress also accounted for a decrease in paternal support for females. No stressinduced change in maternal support for either males or females occurred. Paternal and maternal support were found to decrease distress in the form of depression-loneliness for both the males and the females; they had a similar effect on delinquency-drug use for the males, but for the females only paternal support was significantly effective. These path-analytic findings are consistent with results of other studies (Elder, Liker and Cross, 1984; Elder, Nguyen and Caspi, 1985; Galambos and Silbereisen, 1987a; 19873; Kelly et al., 1985; McLoyd, 1989). In their study of the effects of the Great Depression Elder et al. (1985) found that the hard times of the economic downturn of the 1930s increased distress in their male and female adolescent participants. The manner in which this increase was realized was different for the males than for the females. For the males the effect was a direct result of the economic hardship. A similar finding was obtained in this study. The association between economic stress and male depression-loneliness and male
226
J. D. LEMPERS
AND
D. CLARK-LEMPERS
delinquency-drug use was not mediated by changes in parental support. For the females in Elder et al.‘s study (1985) the increased distress resulted indirectly from the stress-induced worsening of punitive, arbitrary and rejecting parenting by fathers. The finding in this study of an association between economic stress and decreased paternal support for females is in line with the Elder et al. (1985) findings. Some of the increase in female depression-loneliness results from the decrease in amount of paternal support for daughters. Thus the total effect of stress is the sum of a direct and an indirect effect, supporting what Lempers and Clark-Lempers (1989) have termed the “stress-accrual” model. Why do the daughters and not the sons perceive themselves to be the victims of decreased paternal support? Siegal (1987), reviewing studies of possible differential treatment of sons and daughters by mothers and fathers, provides clear evidence that fathers differentiate more than mothers between boys and girls. Fathers are stricter, firmer, more physical and directive with boys than with girls. In addition, he cites several studies providing evidence for father-specific differences in the perceptions of sons and daughters of mothers’ and fathers’ childrearing behaviors. Boys perceive the father in more masculine terms than girls, and are more approving than girls of the father’s discipline and firm control techniques, while girls perceive a lack of intimacy and emotional involvement. These differential perceptions are consistent with the father’s differential socialization behaviors. If, as Elder et al.‘s (1985) data indicate, the parenting behavior of the father becomes more physically punitive, arbitrary, inconsistent and rejective under conditions of family economic stress and if sons are more approving of those behaviors than daughters as the studies reviewed by Siegal (1987) imply, then such increased parenting behavior by the stressed father might lead daughters, more than sons, to perceive their father as increasingly non-supportive. Another reason why daughters and not sons might perceive themselves to be the victims of less paternal support might simply be that sons tend to spend considerably more time with their peers outside the home than daughters; therefore, the daughters are more available to be the recipient of the non-supportive paternal behaviors (McLoyd, 1989). Differential effects of family stress factors on male versus female children at diferent developmental points have been amply documented (Garmezy and Rutter, 1983). The results of this study have several implications for further research. Although, as suggested by this and similar studies (McLoyd, 1989), there is an association between economic stress conditions in families and child adolescent maladjustment, a need for prospective, longitudinal research exists to provide data to indicate that increasing economic strain is the primary cause of the changes in parent-child relations and of child and adolescent problems (Siegal, 1984).
STRESS,
SUPPORT
AND
DISTRESS
227
The findings of this study that parental support not only might act as a buffer against the undesirable consequences of adverse economic changes but also might be diminished due to those changes, as was the case with paternal support for females in this study, have relevance for intervention and social policy planning. Preventive family intervention and social welfare programs should focus on increasing both intra- and extra-family sources of support for families coping with a decrease in economic well-being. In particular, efforts could be made to increase older children’s and adolescents’ understanding of both their parents’ feelings of their own family’s economic need as well as of the uncontrollable factors which might have precipitated that need. The possible role of family support in sustaining positive family relationships in times of economic stress needs to be emphasized (Gore, 1978). In addition, other support groups for both parents and children, through schools, churches and other community institutions, could be harnessed to insulate families against the negative psychological impact of an economic decline.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project was made possible by grants from Institute of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station at Iowa sity. The authors want to thank the school administrators, students who volunteered for this project.
the Research and the Iowa State Univerteachers, and
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