Objective: To examine (1) the extent to which negative perceptions of support from family, school, and peers differ with regard to their impact on emotional and behavioral problems and (2) the extent to which negative perceptions of multiple social support systems are related to the presence of multiple emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence.
Method: The sample comprised 476 high school students, aged 16 to 18 years: 119 without any emotional and behavioral problems, 119 with emotional problems only, 119 with behavioral problems only, and 119 with emotional and behavioral problems. Possible differences between the subgroups were tested with regard to the perceived social support from family, school, and peers, and with regard to the number of negatively perceived support systems.
Results: Whereas a negative perception of school was shown to be specifically related to behavioral problems and a negative perception of peers specifically to emotional problems, a negative perception of the family appeared to be strongly related both to emotional and behavioral dysfunction. A strong accumulating effect was found for multiple negatively perceived social environments.
Conclusions: The results suggest a dominant role of negatively perceived family support. Therefore, to prevent emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence it is of paramount importance to identify families at risk at the earliest possible stage and to provide training and support for the parents involved.