Sociodemographic Characteristics, Family Environment and Adolescents’ Stressors Predicting Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Bab Al Tebbeneh, Jabal Mohsen and Nearby Neighborhoods

Abstract

This study investigated the contributions of adolescents and parents’ sociodemographic characteristics, family environment and adolescents’ stressors to emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents from Bab Al Tebbeneh, Jabal Mohsen and the nearby neighborhoods. It attempted to examine these variables as predictors of emotional and behavioral problems in a sample of 350 adolescent boys and girls from Bab Al Tebbeneh, Jabal Mohsen and the nearby neighborhoods enrolled in middle and high schools with ages ranging between 13 and 17.

The procedure consisted of administering a compiled questionnaire that included sociodemographic information about the adolescent and correspondent family, the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Adolescents’ Stressors Scale and the Youth Self-Report (YSR) Scale in Arabic to recurring adolescent beneficiaries of three community centers operational in Bab Al Tebbeneh, Jabal Mohsen and nearby neighborhoods.

Regarding the YSR results, a fair percentage of the youths were considered in the borderline clinical range and in the clinical range for anxiety, depression and withdrawn subscales. Regarding the FES results, the highest percentage of the youths’ identified that their families emphasize morality and religion, organization and exhibit conflict. As to family types, the highest percentages were for the conflict-oriented families, followed by disorganized families, followed by structured moral-religious families and achievement-oriented families, while the lowest percentage was for the intellectual-cultural oriented families. Regarding the Adolescents’ Stressors scale results, a high percentage of participants seemed to experience economic stressors. Study reported on the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, family types, family dimensions, adolescents’ stressors and YSR. Stepwise regression was used to predict “YSR”. In Model 4, the coefficient of determination R square implied that variation in the dependent variable “YSR” was caused by the family stressors, the school stressors, the personal growth family dimension and the economic stressors. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future studies are discussed.