THE STRESS PROCESS IN ADOLESCENTS: IDENTIFICATION OF MEDIATORS.
Contributors: University of Rochester.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 388
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Previous research on the impact of life events on a wide range of health outcomes suggests the importance of situational conditions in predicting health status. Pearlin and colleagues have proposed a Stress Process Model to explain this complex relationship, suggesting that events affect role strain which, in turn, impacts upon self-concept. Diminishment of self-concepts affects health status, and personal and environmental mediators impact upon this process. Extensive research regarding the above relationships has given limited attention to the role of health behaviors. It was hypothesized that an alteration in health behaviors could be a crucial variable in the stress process.

The role of health behaviors in the stress process was examined using a sample of urban adolescents ages 13-18, who attended a Work Permit Clinic in Rochester, New York, and completed a Health Screening Inventory (HSI).

Seven measures with acceptable measurement properties were constructed from the HSI data: life events, interpersonal competence; social support; social isolation (Dean's scale); self-esteem (Rosenberg's scale); health behaviors; and psychophysiological distress. Selected life events related to changes in the respondent's physical or emotional proximity to familiar people. A modification of Pearlin's Stress Process Model which included health behaviors provided the hypothesized causal relations.

The model was tested using simultaneous estimation of all model parameters including the measurement structure, correlated disturbances in the equations, and correlated measurement errors. After respecification, a model was estimated for the sample of girls (N = 699) which had a (chi)('2)/df ratio of 1.3 indicating a very acceptable goodness of fit. This model was then tested for boys (N = 762) and a (chi)('2)/df ratio of 2.0 was obtained, yielding a near perfect replication. The estimated model has two characteristics unique in the stress literature; a health behavior component, and social support, determined by life events and interpersonal skills. It is theoretically consistent with a person and environment transactional approach. This model supports the crucial role of altered health behaviors in the stress process.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-02, Section: B, page: 0514.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER, 1984.

School code: 0188.