This article investigates the effect of sociopolitical upheaval in Bulgaria on youths' adaptation and perceptions of supportive environments, focusing on the stability and change of schools as a protective factor in this process. High school students were surveyed twice 2 years apart about their perceptions of support and warmth in school, in their family, and with peers, as well as about their social maturity, optimism, depression, and problem behavior. Multivariate and regression analyses revealed the following: (a) Youths perceived supportive environments as either stable (in the case of friends) or improved (in the case of family and schools); (b) they reported declines in their optimism, relative stability of depression and problem behavior, and improvement in social maturity; (c) declines in perceptions of supportive environments were associated with deterioration in youths' adaptation; and (d) stability and especially the improvement of school cohesion moderated the effect of deteriorating family and peer environments on youths' adaptation.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anson, A. (1995). Risk and protection during the middle school transition: The role of school climate in early adolescent development. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 56(3B), 1716.
2.
Aseltine, R. H. , Gore, S., & Colten, M. E. (1994). Depression and the social developmental context of adolescence. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 67, 252-263.
3.
Botcheva, L. (1996). Intergenerational relations during economic hardship in Bulgaria. In G. Elder & P. Noack (Convenors), Social change and individual lives: European and North American perspectives. Symposium presented at the XIV Biennial Meetings of the ISSBD, Quebec City, Canada.
4.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In P. Moen & G. H. Elder Jr. (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 619-647). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
5.
Chassin, L. , Pillow, D. R., Curran, P. J., & Molina, B. S. (1993). Relation of parental alcoholism to early adolescent substance use: A test of three mediating mechanisms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 3-19.
6.
Cicchetti, D. , & Toth, S. (1995). Developmental psychopathology and disorders of affect. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 2. Risk, disorder and adaptation. New York: Wiley Interscience.
7.
Conger R. , & Elder, G. H., Jr. (Eds.). (1994). Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America. New York: Walter de Gruyter.
8.
Conger, K. , Rueter, M., & Conger, R. (2000). The role of economic pressure in the lives of parents and their adolescents: The family stress model. In L. Crockett & R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in time of social change (pp. 201-224). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
9.
Crockett, L. , & Silbereisen, R. (2000). Social change and adolescent development: Issues and challenges. In L. Crockett & R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in time of social change (pp. 1-15). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Elder, G. H., Jr. (1974). Children of the great depression: Social change in life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
11.
Elder, G. H., Jr. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4-15.
12.
Elder, G. H., Jr. , & Russell, S. T. (2000). Surmounting life's disadvantage. In L. Crockett & R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in time of social change (pp. 17-35). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
13.
Elias, M. , & Tobias, S. E. (1996). Social problem solving: Interventions in the schools. New York: Guilford.
14.
Garnefski, N. , & Diekstra, R. (1996). Perceived social support from family, school and peers: Relationship with emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(12), 1657-1664.
15.
Ge, X. , Conger, R. D., Lorenz, F. O., Elder, G. H., Jr., Montague, R. B., & Simons, R. L. (1992). Linking family economic hardship to adolescent distress. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2(4), 351-378.
16.
Goodman, E. , Knight, J. R., & Durant, R. H. (1997). Use of the Life Optimism Test among adolescents in a clinical setting: A report of reliability testing. Journal of Adolescent Health, 21, 218-220.
17.
Greenberger, E. , & Chen, C. (1996). Perceived family relationships and depressed mood in early and late adolescence: A comparison of European and Asian Americans. Developmental Psychology, 32, 707-716.
18.
Haggert, R. J. , Sherod, L., Garmezy, N., & Rutter, M. (1994). Stress, risk, and resilience in children and adolescents. New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Hartup, W. W. (1996). The company they keep. Friendships and their developmental significance. Child Development, 67, 1-13.
20.
Inkeles, A. , & Leiderman, H. (1996). An approach to the study of psychosocial maturity: The development of a cross-national scale for adolescents. International Medical Journal, 3, 133-138.
21.
Labouvie, E. , & Nesselroade, J. (1985). Age, period, and cohort analysis and the study of individual development and social change. In J. Nesselroade & A. von Eye (Eds.), Individual development and social change. London: Academic Press.
22.
Leird, R. (1997). Peer relationships and adolescent behavioral adjustment: A test of three models. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 57, 5363.
23.
Lempers, J. D. , & Clark-Lempers, D. S. (1997). Economic hardship, family relationships, and adolescent distress: An evaluation of a stress-distress mediation model in mother-daughter and mother-son dyads. Adolescence, 32, 339-356.
24.
Lerner, R. M. (1991). Changing organism-context relations as the basic process of development: A developmental contextual perspective. Developmental Psychology, 27, 27-32.
25.
Levin, B. , & Riffel, J. (1998). Conceptualizing school change. Cambridge Journal of Education, 28, 1-5.
26.
Lin, N. (1989). Measuring depressive symptomatology in China. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 177, 121-131.
27.
Maehr, M. L. , & Midgley, C. (1996). Transforming school cultures (Lives in Context Series). Boulder, CO: Westview.
28.
Mintrop, H. (1996). Change of work: Institutional, interactional, and instructional changes in Eastern German Schools in the transition from socialism. An exploration of teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practices in social contexts of teaching. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University School of Education.
29.
Moos, R. H. , & Moos, B. S. (1984). Family Environment Scale manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
30.
Mortimore, P. (1995). The positive effects of schooling. In M. Rutter (Ed.), Psychosocial disturbances in young people: Challenges for prevention (pp. 333-363). New York: Cambridge University Press.
31.
Nesselroade, J. R. , & Baltes, P. B. (Eds.). (1979). Longitudinal research in the study of behavior and development. New York: Academic Press.
32.
Noack, P. (2000). Adolescent peer relations in times of social change. In L. Crockett & R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in time of social change (pp. 137-157). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
33.
Noack, P. , Hofer, M., & Kracke, B. (1994). Adolescents and their parents facing social change: Families in East and West Germany after unification. In P. Noack & M. Hofer (Eds.), Psychological responses to social change: Human development in changing environment (pp. 129-148). Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter.
34.
Noya, C. G. , Geismar, K., & Nicoleau, G. (1995). Shifting histories: transforming education for social change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.
35.
Pierce, C. (1994). Importance of school climate for at-risk learners. Journal of Educational Research, 88(1), 37-41.
36.
Roeser, R. W. , Eccles, J. S., & Strobel, K. R. (1998). Linking the study of schooling and mental health: Selected issues and empirical illustrations at the level of the individual. Educational Psychologist, 33, 153-176.
37.
Rutter, M. (Ed.). (1995). Psychosocial disturbances in young people: Challenges for prevention. New York: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Savin-Williams, R. C. , & Berndt, T. J. (1990). Friendship and peer relations. In S. Feldman & G. Elliot (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescents (pp. 277-307). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
39.
Scaramella, L. V. , Conger, R. D., & Simons, R. L. (1999). Parental protective influences and gender-specific increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 9, 111-141.
40.
Scheier, M. , & Carver, C. (1985). Optimism, coping and health. Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectations. Health Psychology, 4, 219-247.
41.
Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1995). Stress, coping, and relationships in adolescence. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
42.
Shulman, S. (1993). Close relationships and coping behavior in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 267-283.
43.
Silbereisen, R. , & von Eye, A. (Eds.). (1999). Growing up in times of social change. New York: Walter de Gruyter.
44.
Silbereisen, R. , & Walper, S. (1988). A person-process-context approach. In M. Rutter (Ed.), Studies of psycho-social risks: The power of longitudinal data (pp. 96-113). New York: Cambridge University Press.
45.
Silbereisen, R. K. , Walper, S., & Albrecht, H. T. (1990). Family income loss and economic hardship: Antecedents of adolescents' problem behavior. New Directions for Child Development, 46, 27-47.
46.
Simons, R. , Whitbeck, L., Melby, J., & Wu, C. (1994). Economic pressure and harsh parenting. In R. D. Conger & G. Elder (Eds.), Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America (pp. 207-222). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
47.
Simons, R. L. , Whitbeck, L. B., & Wu, C. (1994). Resilient and vulnerable adolescents. In R. D. Conger & G. Elder (Eds.), Families in troubled times: Adapting to change in rural America (pp. 223-234). New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
48.
Steinberg, L. (1990). Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the family relationship. In S. Feldman & G. Elliot (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 255-276). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
49.
Teneva, N. (Ed.). (1995). The world of Bulgarian woman. Sofia, Bulgaria: Katerini-20.
50.
Trommsdorff, G. (2000). Social and personal factors and the timing of events. In L. Crockett & R. Silbereisen (Eds.), Negotiating adolescence in time of social change (pp. 58-69). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
Wagner, B. , Cohen, P., & Brook, J. (1996). Parent/adolescent relationships: Moderators of the effects of stressful life events. Journal of Adolescent Research, 11, 347-374.
52.
Walper, S. , & Silbereisen, R. (1994). Economic hardship in Polish and German families: Some consequences for adolescents. In R. Silbereisen & E. Todt (Eds.), Adolescence in context: The interplay of family, school, peers and work in adjustment (pp. 125-148). New York: Springer-Verlag.
53.
Walper, S. , & Wiszniewska, A. (1988, December). Consequences of income loss on family climate and adolescent personality. Paper presented at the Research Colloquium on Youth Development in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Technical University, Berlin.
54.
Weiler, H. , Mintrop, H., & Fuhrmann, E. (1996). Educational change and social transformation: Teachers, schools and universities in Eastern Germany. London: Falmer.
55.
Windle, M. (1994). A study of friendship characteristics and problem behaviors among middle adolescents. Child Development, 65(6), 1764-1777.
56.
Wyzan, M. L. (1998). Bulgarian economic policy and performance, 1991-1997. In J. D. Bell (Ed.), Bulgaria in transition: Politics, economics, society, and culture after Communism (pp. 93-122). Boulder, CO: Westview.
