Stress among Early Adolescents in Two-Earner Families

Abstract

This study investigated the emotional stress reported by early adolescents in two-earner families in family, peer, and student roles. Data were collected from 173 eighth-grade adolescents (79 males and 94 females) and their two-earner parents. Role strain, coping strategies, psychological resources, and parental work characteristics were examined as determinants of adolescent emotional stress. Gender also was included in the analyses as a control variable. Overall, the adolescents sampled reported low to moderate levels of emotional stress across roles. Role strain was found to be a key factor in explaining early adolescent stress levels. Results were less supportive of the influence of psychological resources and gender as moderators of stress. Coping strategies were found to be especially important in explaining stress outcomes as an adolescent family member. Parental work characteristics did not explain any of the variance in emotional stress in family, peer, or student roles. Implications of these findings are discussed.