محیط خانواده، مقابله و بهداشت روانی در نوجوانان مدارس روزانه درمانی

Objective This study examined associations among family environment, coping, and emotional and conduct problems in adolescents attending therapeutic day schools due to mental health problems. Methods Adolescents (N = 417; 30.2% female) ages 13–20 (M = 15.25) reported on their family environment (affective involvement and functioning), coping (emotion-focused support-seeking, cognitive restructuring, avoidant actions), and emotional and conduct problems. Results Poorer family environment was associated with less emotion-focused support-seeking and cognitive restructuring, and more emotional and conduct problems. Emotional problems were negatively associated with cognitive restructuring, and conduct problems were negatively associated with all coping strategies. Cognitive restructuring accounted for the relationship between family environment and emotional problems. Cognitive restructuring and emotion-focused support-seeking each partially accounted for the relationship between family functioning and conduct problems, but not the relationship between family affective involvement and conduct problems. Conclusions Findings implicate the role of coping in the relationship between family environment and adolescent mental health.

The quality of family relationships plays a key role in adolescents' emotional and behavioral development (Repetti, Taylor, & Seeman, 2002). A positive family environment (e.g., open communication, low conflict, high support, and moderate affective involvement) can support youths' healthy adjustment (Conger and Conger, 2002 and Grant et al., 2006). Similarly, the ability to cope effectively with stress predicts positive adjustment (Sontag & Graber, 2010), and engagement coping strategies such as cognitive restructuring consistently predict positive youth mental health outcomes (e.g., Seiffge-Krenke & Klessinger, 2000). However, little research has examined the relationships among family environment, coping, and mental health in youth, and little is known about how adolescents' own coping responses may explain extant relations between family processes and adolescent mental health outcomes. Understanding the role of adolescents' own coping in the family pathway to youth mental health may ultimately suggest directions for family-focused interventions for youth with mental health problems. The current study is one of the first to evaluate the role of coping in the link between family environment and mental health problems in a population with emotional and behavioral difficulties: adolescents attending therapeutic day schools.