Low Social Support among At-Risk Adolescents

Abstract

This article compares at-risk students who reported receiving no or low social support with those who reported receiving an average amount of support with respect to perceptions of their neighborhood, school, peer group, family, and health and well-being. With respect to their neighborhoods, no or low-support students indicated more frequent moves and more hours working for pay outside school. With respect to school, they reported lower attendance, less time studying, fewer prosocial behaviors, and less ability to overcome school problems. With respect to their friends, they indicated having fewer close friends and lower peer-group acceptance. With respect to their families, they reported engaging in less disclosure of their feelings with the adults with whom they lived; also, they reported that their adult caretakers showed less interest in their school and monitored school activities less. With respect to their health and well-being, they described themselves as lower in self- esteem than those who reported receiving an average amount of social support. Implications of these results are presented for the social work practitioner, so that he or she can develop and implement psychoeducational and social skills training interventions to help at-risk students recognize potential sources of social support and develop skills to acquire available support.