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Abstract
A model of relationships among contextual factors (family, school, peer group), personal identity and problem behavior in 613 (314 females, 299 males, age group 12-13, second year in middle school) early adolescent and their primary caregivers (mostly mothers) was tested by structural equation modeling. Family functioning (parent and adolescent reports) was operationalized in terms of positive parenting, parental involvement, parent-adolescent communication and family support in two latent variables, school functioning (adolescent reports) in terms of bonding to school and teacher support in one latent variable, peer group in terms of peer support in one latent variable, personal identity in terms of identity coherence and identity confusion factors, externalizing problem behavior in terms of aggressive behavior, rule breaking behavior and attention problems (adolescent reports), and aggressive behavior and rule breaking behavior (parent reports) in one latent variable.
Results indicated that family functioning(adolescent report) had an influence on adolescent problem behavior directly and indirectly through identity confusion.In other words, identity confusion partially mediated the relationship between family functioning and early adolescent behavior problems. Structural equation models indicated that the two identity variables(identity coherence and identity confusion) accounted for 30% of the total relationship between early adolescents’ perceptions of family functioning and their levels of engagement in problematic behaviors. According to the results, school functioning influenced problem behavior directly but peer support didn’t. However, testing a new hypothesis revealed that the effect of the peer group is indirectly through family functioning. Although the present research was cross-sectional and could not speak directly to developmental processes, the present findings suggest that contextual factors and intrapersonal factors simultaneously play important roles in steering young adolescents toward or away from behavior problems. Research implications were discussed.
Key words: adolescence, social context, personal identity, problem behavior,
structural equation modeling