Author, as appears in the article.: Riccardo Valente; Lucrezia Crescenzi-Lanna
Department: Geografia
URV's Author/s: Valente, Riccardo
Keywords: Young adolescents; Psychological distress; Unsafety; Social support; Gender differences; Multi-group
Abstract: 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.
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: riccardo.valente@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0003-3791-8336
Paper data publication: 2022
Record's date: 2024-03-07
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621009758
Papper original source: Social Science & Medicine. 293 114643-
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
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114643
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2022
Publication Type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Repositori URV