Development of mastery during adolescence: the role of family problem-solving.
A sense of mastery is an important component of psychological health and wellbeing across the life-span; however relatively little is known about the development of mastery during childhood and adolescence. Utilizing prospective, longitudinal data from 444 adolescent sibling pairs and their parents, our conceptual model proposes that family socioeconomic status (SES) in the form of parental education promotes effective family problem-solving, which, in turn, fosters adolescent mastery. Results show: (1) a significant increase in mastery for younger and older siblings, (2) parental education promoted effective problem-solving between parents and adolescents and between siblings but not between the parents themselves, and (3) all forms of effective family problem-solving predicted greater adolescent mastery. Parental education had a direct effect on adolescent mastery as well as the hypothesized indirect effect through problem-solving effectiveness, suggesting both a social structural and social process influence on the development of mastery during adolescence.
Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA. kjconger@ucdavis.edu
Katherine Jewsbury
KJ
Conger
Shannon Tierney
ST
Williams
Wendy M
WM
Little
Katherine E
KE
Masyn
Barbara
B
Shebloski
D000293:Adolescent; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007484:Iowa; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011340:Problem Solving; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012424:Rural Population; D035781:Siblings