Patterns of support to adolescents related to disability, family situation, harassment, and economy.

Abstract

Adolescents need support from family, friends, and teachers to increase their involvement in everyday life. Their environment and their own characteristics also influence their ability to participate in an everyday supportive environment. The aim of the study was to investigate patterns of support from parents, teachers, and very important persons such as peers to the ability of adolescents to participate in everyday life, as well as the importance of interpersonal relations as experienced by the adolescents. The study has a cross-sectional design. The data compiled and analysed in this study are part of a longitudinal study of adolescents and their development into adults-LoRDIA(Longitudinal Research on Development In Adolescence). A combination of person- and variable-oriented design was used to capture patterns of support. Adolescents with a complicated home situation and low economic prerequisites who received little support from parents and friends participated to a lower degree in home activities. A substantial number of these adolescents had self-reported neurodevelopmental disorders and, as a group, were more often exposed to harassment. However, these adolescents participated to a higher extent in school activities, although they received little support from the teachers. The adolescents who received most support from parents and teachers were those with a country of origin other than Sweden and those who lived with both of their parents and had more siblings than average. However, this did not mean that they participated to a higher extent in home and school activities.