Longitudinal Effect of Perceived Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on Adolescent Subjective Well-Being

Background and Purpose: This study uses a large, representative sample of Taiwanese adolescents followed into adulthood to investigate the development of subjective well-being in context of neighborhood collective efficacy. Recent studies highlight the research value of adolescent subjective well-being. It not only plays an important role in adolescent positive behaviors and optimal mental health, but also contributes to the promotion of positive youth development. Less research focuses on the relationship between neighborhood collective efficacy and adolescent SWB, and no studies examine the connection within Chinese cultures. This study aims to extend the research to investigate the longitudinal associations between adolescent subjective well-being and neighborhood collective efficacy in Taiwan. We hypothesis that adolescent perceived neighborhood collective efficacy has a positive influence on his or her subjective well-being over time.

Methods: Data and Samples:Data were taken from Taiwan Youth Project (TYP), a longitudinal panel sample of 2696 seventh graders since 2000. The multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to obtain a sample with school-based representative junior high school students. This study analyzed adolescents who self-reported their subjective well-being in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 12th grades.

Measures: The adolescent subjective well-being was the dependent variable representing the satisfaction with interpersonal relationships (such as father, mother, friend, and teacher), academic performance, and perceived family support. The potential contextual influence variable was the perceived altruistic neighbors, a major concept of neighborhood collective efficacy. By using Mplus 8,the latent growth curve method was applied to exam the change over time through use of the robust maximum likelihood (MLR) estimator.

Results: The latent growth models fit the data well (χ2 ₍₁₃₎=103.38, RESMA=.05, CFI=.98). The model showed nonlinear growth in adolescent subjective well-being among Taiwanese youth. Subjective well-being declined in early adolescence, and then remained flat in the transition into young adulthood. Consistent with the hypothesis, higher initial perceived neighborhood collective efficacy was positively related to higher subjective well-being, and increases in perceived collective efficacy related with slower declines in subjective well-being.

Conclusions and Implications: This study extends the prior literature by examining the influence of neighborhood collective efficacy on the change of adolescent well-being in Taiwan society. The Taiwan government signed the UN Convention on Rights of the Child in 2014, so there is a further need to promote practical programs to fulfill youth developmental rights. This study provided an evidence to guide the design of community prevention approaches in promoting adolescent health outcomes in Taiwan.