Association of Adverse Family Experiences with School Engagement and Performance in US Adolescents: Do Behavioral Health Conditions Mediate the Relationship?

AbstractTo examine the prevalence of adverse family experiences (AFEs), their association with poor school engagement and performance, and whether behavioral health conditions mediate the association among US adolescents. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from adolescents aged 12 –17 years from the 2016–2018 National Survey of Children’s Health (n = 41,648 unweighted). We first estimated the prevalence of AFEs, investigated the association of AFEs with school engagement and performance, and whether behavioral health conditions mediate such relationships, using multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression models. A mediation analysis was use d and covariates included socio-demographic characteristics and co-morbid medical conditions. A total of 52.9% of US adolescents (nationally representative of 12.9 million adolescents nationwide) reported experiencing at least one form of AFE, the most common of which included parental divorce/separ ation (33.1%), economic hardship (22.0%) and living with a person with substance misuse problems (11.5%). Adolescents with ≥4 AFEs had poorer outcomes in school engagement and performance (p <  0.001 each) when compared to those with no AFEs. Behavioral health conditions (e.g., anxiety, depression, and conduct problems) partially mediated these relationships (p <  0.01 each). The indirect effect of behavioral health conditions accounted for 20.4% of the total effect in the association between AFEs and schoo...
Source: Psychiatric Quarterly - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research