ORCID
Ryan D. Heath: 0000-0002-1656-018X
Document Type
Article
Date
Spring 6-20-2022
Keywords
adolescence, social support, out-of-school time, organized activities, educational attainment, employment
Language
English
Disciplines
Community Psychology | Developmental Psychology | Development Studies | Educational Sociology | Social Work
Description/Abstract
During adolescence, youth may receive social support from multiple sources, including families, school staff, peers, and organized activities during out-of-school time (OST). Drawing from theories of social support and optimal matching, this study aimed to identify patterns of adolescents’ social support across four social contexts, and the associations of these patterns with educational and employment outcomes. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (N=16,197), latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of social support across indicators of informational and appraisal support. Six classes were identified, and counter to hypotheses, classes varied not by the sources of support, but instead by the types of support and by OST participation. Levels of social support were similar across the four social contexts – demonstrating a “contextual alignment.” Higher informational support across classes appeared unrelated to educational and employment outcomes. Instead, classes with higher appraisal support and OST participation were associated with stronger educational and employment outcomes. Findings highlight the importance of not only appraisal support, but especially OST participation for adolescents’ developmental trajectories.
Recommended Citation
Heath, R. D., & Thornock, B. H. (2022). A latent class analysis of adolescents’ social support: Contextual alignment, unrelated information, and the importance of out-of-school time. Research in Human Development, 19(1-2), 41-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2022.2077081
Source
submission
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Community Psychology Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Development Studies Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Social Work Commons
