Behavior problems, social relationships, and adolescents' future orientation. Links from middle to late adolescence
Ann‐Margret Rydell, Karin C. Brocki- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Abstract
Introduction
As adolescents leave high school, plans for the future are of great importance. Future orientation reflects positive thoughts regarding further education, employment, and family life. While future orientation has been found to affect behavior problems, the influence of behavior problems on future orientation is mainly unknown. Positive parent−child and peer relations may boost positive outlooks, but the interplay of behavior problems and social relations for future orientation remains to be studied.
Methods
Participants were 485 adolescents, 54% girls, living in Mid‐Sweden. At age 15, parents and adolescents rated ADHD‐ and internalizing symptoms, parents rated ODD‐symptoms, and adolescents rated their relationship with parents and peers. At age 18, adolescents rated future orientation regarding education, employment, and family, and reported on delinquent acts.
Results
Low levels of inattention symptoms and of delinquency were important for all higher future orientation aspects. In contrast, higher levels of hyperactive‐impulsive symptoms were associated with more positive outlooks on work and family life. Relationships with parents and peers were stronger predictors of future outlooks, compared with behavior problems. There were few interaction effects of behavioral symptoms and social relationship quality.
Conclusions
Behavior problems in middle adolescence may negatively affect future outlooks. However, positive social relations, especially relations with peers, seem more important for optimistic views than behavior problems and thus may have a compensatory effect. The clinical implications should be to address the young person's social world, in the case of misgivings about the future, also in the presence of problematic behaviors.