Family stressor events, family coping, and adolescent adaptation in farm and ranch families

Adolescence, Spring, 1999 by Scott W. Plunkett, Carolyn S. Henry, Patricia K. Knaub

RESULTS

Prior to data analysis, three dummy variables were created to assign numeric values to gender of adolescent (females = 0 and males = 1), mother started to work off the farm/ranch (mother did not start to work off farm/ranch in the last twelve months = 0 and mother started to work off farm/ranch in the last twelve months = 1), and father started to work off the farm/ranch (father did not start to work off farm/ranch in the last twelve months = 0 and father started to work off farm/ranch in the last twelve months = 1). These allowed for the use of categorical variables in both the bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). Means and standard deviations are presented in Table 1.

Bivariate Correlations

The relationships between the demographic variables, family stressor events, family coping strategies, and each of the three indicators of adolescent adaptation (individual stress, family stress, and family life satisfaction) were examined. The bivariate correlations (see Table 1) revealed significant positive relationships between adolescents' reports of individual stress and age of the adolescent, father's off-farm/ranch employment (adolescents reported higher levels of personal stress when their fathers were employed off the farm/ranch in the last twelve months), transitions, and sexual issues. Adolescents' reports of family stress yielded significant positive correlations with father's off-farm/ranch employment (adolescents reported higher levels of family stress when their fathers were employed off the farm/ranch in the last twelve months), family responsibilities and strains, and individual stress. Further, a significant negative correlation was found between family stress and gender; females reported higher levels of family stress than did males. Adolescents' reports of family life satisfaction correlated negatively with substance use issues and positively with family support and family spiritual support.

Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses (three separate equations) were used to determine (1) the contribution of the predictor variables (demographic variables, pileup of family stressor events, and family coping strategies) in explaining the variance in the criterion variables (the three indicators of adolescent adaptation: individual stress, family stress, and adolescent family life satisfaction), and (2) the significance level of specific beta coefficients within each of the three models (see Table 2). The order of variable entry was determined by family stress theory, which suggests that pileup of stressor events be considered prior to coping strategies. Specifically, in Step 1, the demographic variables (age and gender of the adolescent) were entered into the regression equation to examine the extent to which these variables alone [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 2 OMITTED] explained the variance in adolescent adaptation. In Step 2, family stressor events (farm crisis, transitions, sexual issues, losses, responsibilities and strains, substance use issues, father's off-farm/ranch employment, and mother's off-farm/ranch employment) were entered into the equation. In Step 3, family coping strategies (acquiring social support, reframing, seeking spiritual support, mobilizing the family to get help, and family support) were entered into the equation. All of the variables were entered into each of the hierarchical multiple regression equations using the default value of .10 as the low 'level of tolerance. Results of the regression analyses using this tolerance level indicated that multicollinearity was not a problem in any of the three models (Cohen & Cohen, 1983).