Repositori URV

Autor segons l'article: Riccardo Valente; Lucrezia Crescenzi-Lanna

Departament: Geografia

Autor/s de la URV: Valente, Riccardo

Paraules clau: Young adolescents; Psychological distress; Unsafety; Social support; Gender differences; Multi-group

Resum: Rationale: Symptoms of psychological distress at an early age have proved to undermine adolescents’ academic achievements, as well as their personal and social well-being. The literature acknowledges a wide range of risk factors that cause psychological distress, while at the same time emphasizing the role of social support as a protective factor. On the other hand, feelings of unsafety as a possible source of psychological distress have been so far largely overlooked in the literature. Objective: The present study explores the consequences of a specific stressor (feeling unsafe) and asks whether social support can act as a moderator in the association between subjective unsafety and psychological distress. Methods: A multi-group structural equation model was run with a sample of 2876 young adolescents aged 10–12 enrolled in educational centers in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Results: The results show that direct exposure to sibling violence at home and bullying at school are significant predictors of psychological distress, regardless of biological sex. The hypothesis of a negative correlation of subjective perceptions of unsafety on psychological distress is also supported, although neighborhood-based risk factors emerge as a greater source of distress for females than for males. The involvement of supportive adults is associated with lower levels of perceptions of unsafety and distress in both groups, but girls seem capable of drawing more effectively on alternative sources of support, specifically their peers, to enhance their safety at school and in the neighborhood. Conclusion: Overall, gender differences in our model overlap with socio-environmental inequalities (low income, exposure to violence and conflictual public spaces), thus suggesting that an intervention into the root causes of these inequalities could contribute to lowering psychological distress in early adolescence.

Accès a la llicència d'ús: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Adreça de correu electrònic de l'autor: riccardo.valente@urv.cat

Identificador de l'autor: 0000-0003-3791-8336

Data de publicació de l'article: 2022

Data d'alta del registre: 2024-03-07

Versió de l'article dipositat: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Enllaç font original: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621009758

Referència a l'article segons font original: Social Science & Medicine. 293 114643-

Referència de l'ítem segons les normes APA: Valente, R., & Crescenzi-Lanna, L. (2022). Feeling unsafe as a source of psychological distress in early adolescence. Social Science & Medicine, 293, 114643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114643

URL Document de llicència: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

DOI de l'article: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114643

Entitat: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Any de publicació de la revista: 2022

Tipus de publicació: info:eu-repo/semantics/article