I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends: Relationships Between Adolescent Wellbeing and Friend Support and Behavior

Purpose:

Social support from friends can improve the likelihood of healthy developmental outcomes. However, few studies explore whether outcomes related to friend support depend on the behavior of friends. This study assesses whether friend support and friend behavior have interdependent relationships with wellbeing among middle and high school students. In keeping with an ecological frame, we examine these relationships in the context of other risk and protective factors in students’ homes, neighborhoods, and schools. We expect that the strength of the relationship between student wellbeing and support from friends will depend on friends’ behavior.

Methods:

Data and Sample: The present study is a secondary analysis of data from students who completed the School Success Profile (SSP). The SSP dataset includes 37,354 students from 318 middle and high schools in seven states.

Measures: The SSP (Bowen, Rose, & Bowen, 2005) is a reliable and valid measure of risk and protective factors in students’ neighborhoods, schools, peer groups, and families (Bowen & Richman, 2001).  The following SSP scales were used in the present analysis: Student Wellbeing (dependent variable), Neighborhood Safety, Support from Neighbors, Parental Support, Parental Expectations, School Learning Climate, School Safety, Friend Support, and Friend Behavior. Family income, gender, race/ethnicity, and school level (high school vs. middle) were also included in the analysis. The Wellbeing scale was constructed from items assessing students’ emotional health, self-confidence, and adjustment.

Data Analysis: Models were estimated with multilevel modeling using HLM software, with students serving as Level 1 and schools as Level 2. Although the purpose of the present study was to examine relationships between student-level variables, multilevel modeling provides more accurate standard error estimates when participants are nested within schools. We examined the data for direct relationships between independent variables and wellbeing, as well as interactions between friend behavior and friend support.

Results:

Students with more support from friends reported better wellbeing. Having friends with fewer problem behaviors was also related to better wellbeing. There was also a significant interaction between friend support and behavior, indicating that support from friends was more strongly related to wellbeing when friends had fewer problem behaviors.  Other findings were largely consistent with previous research, with better wellbeing associated with more support from parents, higher parental expectations, more safe and supportive school climates, safer neighborhoods, and more support from neighbors. The large majority of variation in students’ wellbeing was attributed to individual differences within schools (98.9% of the total variation), rather than differences between schools (1.2% of the total variation).

Implications:

Increases in individual, familial and community stressors have posed serious challenges to adolescent wellbeing. Therefore, many interventions focused on improving wellbeing have shifted attention to a more ecological perspective. The findings from this study provide further evidence that supports in the home, neighborhood, school, and peer group are related to wellbeing. Support from friends may only predict better wellbeing for students who have friends with pro-social behavior.