The Emotional and Behavioral Impact of Social Connections and Observant Adults in the Neighborhood, School, and Family on Youth

Abstract

The social ecological model illustrates the complex relationships between a person and their environment. Reviews of the literature highlight a need to increase our understanding of how social processes affect youth across multiple environmental contexts. We use data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study to test social connections and observant adults in three contexts: neighborhood, school and family; as predictors of wellbeing, and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in a sample of youth. Our findings suggests that social connections in the neighborhood, school, and family are associated with positive youth outcomes. Observant adults in the school and family are associated with greater wellbeing and fewer externalizing symptoms whereas observant adults in the neighborhood was not associated with youth outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of developing spaces where youth feel included, and the positive impact that observant adults in proximal contexts can have on youth. Understanding how social processes operate across contexts can help practitioners create synergy across the most salient contexts that affect youth.