Resumen de El rol de la comunicación familiar y del ajuste escolar en la salud mental del adolescente
Juan Herrero Olaizola, Estefanía Estévez López, Gonzalo Musitu Ochoa
- español
Durante el período adolescente, los contextos familiar y escolar juegan un papel crucial en el ajuste psicológico del individuo. Investigaciones previas señalan, por ejemplo, que la existencia de problemas de comunicación entre padres e hijos adolescentes constituye uno de los factores familiares de riesgo más estrechamente vinculados con el desarrollo de problemas de salud mental en los hijos, por ejemplo la presencia de síntomas depresivos, ansiedad y estrés. En el contexto escolar también se han identificado varios factores que pueden influir negativamente en el ajuste psicológico del adolescente, como la baja autoestima académica/escolar o los problemas de integración social y victimización entre iguales.
Sin embrago, pese a la evidencia empírica de que diversas variables familiares y escolares influyen directamente en la salud mental del adolescente, todavía quedan algunas cuestiones por dilucidar para lograr una mejor comprensión de la relación entre estas variables. Por ejemplo, respecto a la comunicación familiar, la investigación previa tradicionalmente no ha tenido en cuenta el posible efecto diferencial del padre y la madre en el ajuste psicológico del hijo/a, mientras que si se ha estudiado abundantemente el papal desempeñado por la figura materna.
Teniendo en cuenta estos antecedentes, la presente investigación tiene como objetivo analizar la influencia de la comunicación familiar (con el padre y la madre por separado) y del ajuste escolar (autoestima escolar y problemas de victimización en la escuela) en la salud mental del adolescente (malestar psicológico: sintomatología depresiva y estrés percibido).
La muestra está constituida por 875 adolescentes con edades comprendidas entre los 11 y los 16 años (edad media: 13.7 años) de los que 47% son muchachos, y que en el momento de la aplicación de los cuestionarios cursaban estudios de enseñanza media. Los adolescentes llenaron los cuestionarios, de forma voluntaria y anónima, en sus centros educativos durante un periodo regular de clase.
Los cuestionarios utilizados fueron los siguientes: la Escala de Comunicación Padres-Adolescente ¿PACS- de Barnes y Olson, que informa sobre el tipo de comunicación existente entre el adolescente, el padre y la madre; una Escala de Autoestima Escolar, elaborada a partir de otra escala previa ¿AFA- de Musito, García y Gutiérrez, que informa sobre la autopercepción del adolescente en el área escolar/académica; una Escala de Victimización, elaborada por Estévez, Musitu y Herrero y quien informa sobre la frecuencia con que el adolescente ha sido victimizado en la escuela durante el último año; la Escala de Depresión del Centro de Estudios Epidemiológicos ¿CESD- de Radloff, que aporta un índice general de ánimo depresivo; y la Escala de Estrés Percibido ¿PSS- de Cohen, Kamarck y Mermelstein, que aporta una medida global del estrés experimentado durante el último mes.
Con el programa EQS 6.0 se calculó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. Los resultados obtenidos indican que los problemas de comunicación tanto con la madre como con el padre, influyen directamente en el grado de malestar psicológico experimentado por el hijo/a a adolescente. Además, encontramos un efecto indirecto de la comunicación familiar en el malestar psicológico, por medio del ajuste en la escuela. En este sentido, nuestros resultados sugieren que la existencia de una comunicación abierta con los padres influye positivamente en la autoestima escolar del hijo/a, la cual, a su vez, se relaciona negativamente con el malestar psicológico a través de la victimización, y éstos, a su vez, influyen directamente en el malestar experimentado por el adolescente.
Estos resultados nos permiten extraer algunas conclusiones de interés. En primer lugar, este estudio viene a confirmar la importancia de los contextos familiar y escolar en el ajuste psicológico del adolescente, corroborando estudios previos que muestran la influencia directa, bien de las relaciones familiares, bien de los problemas de ajuste en la escuela, en el desarrollo de síntomas depresivos y de estrés. En segundo lugar, nuestros datos indican que los factores familiares y escolares se relacionan entre sí y contribuyen conjuntamente en la explicación del malestar psicológico, o en otras palabras: los problemas de comunicación en el contexto familiar pueden convertirse en problemas de ajuste en el contexto escolar los que, a su vez, ejercen un efecto negativo en la salud mental del adolescente.
- English
Family and school contexts play an especially important role on adolescent psychological adjustment. Previous research shows, for example, that a negative family environment characterized by communication problems between parents and adolescents, is a risk factor for the development of children’s mental health problems, such as depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress. On the contrary, family communication based on respect and affection, has a positive effect on adolescent psychological adjustment.
Regarding school context, there are also some factors which have been associated with psychological adjustment problems, like academic failure, low school self-esteem, or interpersonal problems with peers (e.g. victimization). In this sense, prior studies have reported that adolescents with low school self-esteem or who have been victimized at school show more depressive symptomatology and psychological stress.
Nevertheless, although the empirical evidence has demonstrated that some family and school factors directly influence adolescent psychological well-being, there are still some questions to answer to better understand relationships between these variables. For example, in relation to family communication, research has traditionally focused on communication with mother, while recent studies suggest that fathers and mothers may separately contribute to the explanation of some mental health problems in children. Along this line, some authors have reported that adolescent psychological adjustment seems to be more closely associated to a father-child relationship based on affect and acceptance.
Taking into account all these findings, the aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of family communication (with father and mother separately) and school adjustment (school self-esteem and victimization problems) on adolescent’s mental health (psychological distress: depressive symptomatology and perceived stress).
Participants: In the study participated 1068 adolescents ranging in age from 11 to 16 years old, of whom 84% lived with both father and mother at the time when the research was taking place. Since in the present study adolescent’s communication with father and mother is separately analyzed, it was considered that the final sample should be composed of adolescents who live with both parents. The final sample consisted of 875 adolescents from four public schools in the Valencian Community (Spain), mean age 13.7 years old, and of whom 47% were male.
Prior to data collection, parents and teachers were informed about the objectives of the study. The adolescents filled out the scales, anonymously, in their schools during a regular class period.
Measures and instruments were the following: Family communication, was measured using the 20-item Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale -PACS- from Barnes and Olson. The original scale shows a two-factor structure referring to degree of openness and extent of problems in family communication. However, we could not replicate this factor structure in our data. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded a three-factor structure for father and mother separately: openness in family communication (10 items), offensive communication with parents (6 items), and avoidant communication with parents (4 items). Cronbach’s reliability coefficients for these subscales were 0.87, 0.76 and 0.75 respectively.
School self-esteem: was assessed using a 6-item School Self-Esteem Scale, adapted from a previous scale -AFA- from Musitu, García and Gutiérrez. This scale informs about the adolescent’s self-perception in relation to school and academic matters. Coefficient alpha in the present study was 0.86.
Victimization: was measured using a 6-item Victimization Scale which evaluates the frequency with which respondents have been victimized at school in the past 12 months. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for this scale was 0.82.
Depressive symptomatology: was assessed by the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale -CESD. The CESD is a 20-item scale which evaluates the presence of depressive symptomatology, including depressed mood, positive affect, somatic and retarded activity, and negative perception of interpersonal relationships. It also provides a global measure of depressive mood, used in this study. Cronbach’s alpha reliability for this scale in the present sample was 0.90.
Perceived stress: was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale - PSS- from Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein. The PSS is a 14-item scale which measures the degree to which respondents appraised situations as stressful within the last month. Coefficient alpha in the current study for this scale was 0.82.
We used EQS 6.0 Structural Equation Program to examine the influence of family communication and school adjustment on adolescent’s mental health (psychological distress). The structural model showed a good fit with the data: S-B χ2 (22, N = 875) = 55.56, p < .001; CFI = 0.98; IFI = 0.98; NNFI = 0.96; and RMSEA = 0.05; and explained 53.6% of variance in psychological distress.
Latent variables in this model were: Communication with Father (indicators: open communication, offensive communication and avoidant communication), Communication with Mother (indicators: open communication, offensive communication and avoidant communication), School Self-Esteem, Victimization (these two variables consist of only one indicator), and Psychological Distress (indicators: depressive symptomatology and perceived stress).
In the prediction of adolescent’s psychological distress, results showed a direct influence of family communication problems on the degree of distress experienced. In other words, adolescents who informed about communication problems with their mothers and/or fathers, showed more depressive symptoms and stress. Moreover, we found an indirect influence of family communication on psychological distress, through its effect on adolescent’s school adjustment. In this sense, results indicated that open communication with parents was positively associated with school self-esteem which, in turn, was negatively related to psychological distress.
Also, communication with father showed an indirect relationship with adolescent’s distress, through victimization at school: negative father-adolescent communication seems to be related to victimization problems, and these problems, in turn, have a direct influence on the degree of psychological distress. These findings are consistent with those reported in recent studies indicating that the father-child relationship and victimization problems at school are two interrelated factors. It is possible that this negative parent-adolescent interaction results in a “victim scheme” in children, that is to say, in the conception of parents as threatening figures and of oneself as a weak person, which makes these adolescents behave in a way that invites victimization by peers.
As a conclusion, this investigation confirms previous research which points out the important role that family and school contexts play on adolescent mental health. Our results suggest that both family relationships and adjustment problems at school are directly related to the development of some psychological problems, such as the presence of depressive symptoms and stress.
Moreover, results of the present study show that some family and school factors are interrelated and jointly contribute to the explanation of adolescent psychological distress. The findings suggest that communication problems in the family context may result in adjustment problems in the school context which, in turn, have a negative effect on adolescent mental health.
Finally, caution about making causal inference from our results should be maintained, due to the correlational nature of the investigation. Further clarification of the relationships would require a longitudinal study. Nevertheless, from an exploratory point of view, the results of the current study could guide future investigations to obtain more conclusive data for the design of intervention programs.
