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Does Negative Emotional Reactivity Moderate the Relation between Contextual Cohesion and Adolescent Well-Being?

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Abstract

Although well-being is a chief indicator of positive mental health, much research has neglected to consider individual-specific and contextual factors that may promote this important outcome among youth. To address this gap, we examined whether neighborhood and family social cohesion are associated with well-being among youth varying in negative emotional reactivity, and whether findings were consistent with the diathesis-stress or differential susceptibility hypothesis. Participants were assessed at 3 time points: Time 1 (N = 775, M age = 10.95 ± 0.88 years; 71% male); Time 2 (n = 660, M age = 12.99 ± 0.95 years); and Time 3 (n = 633, M age = 15.50 ± 0.56 years). At Time 1, caregivers reported on family and neighborhood cohesion. Youth reported on their negative emotional reactivity at Time 2 and well-being at Time 3. Negative emotional reactivity moderated the relation between family cohesion and well-being. Among youth higher in negative emotional reactivity, lower family cohesion was associated with lower levels of well-being compared to higher family cohesion. Youth higher and lower in emotional reactivity evidenced similar levels of well-being when exposed to higher family cohesion. The findings thus support the diathesis-stress model, suggesting that less cohesive families may contribute to reduced happiness and well-being, particularly among youth with higher negative emotional reactivity.

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Notes

  1. Ancillary analyses were conducted to examine whether the 3-way interaction between family cohesion, neighborhood social cohesion, and negative emotional reactivity was associated with well-being. The family cohesion × neighborhood social cohesion × negative emotional reactivity interaction term was not significant (β = −0.05, p = 0.252); thus, no further analyses were conducted.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all study participants, in addition to Dr. Ralph Tarter, the Principal Investigator of the project, Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR), from which these data were drawn. We also thank the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) for funding for this work (2 P50 DA05605).

Authors’ Contributions

L.B.M. participated in the design and coordination of the study and drafted the manuscript; J.A.R. performed the statistical analyses, participated in interpretation of the data, and helped to draft the manuscript; M.D.R. participated in the design of the study; D.A.G.D. helped draft and revise the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant number 2 P50 DA05605).

Data Sharing and Declaration

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and are not publicly available. However, data are available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology at Temple University, 6th Floor Weiss Hall, 1701 N 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, USA

    Lindsay B. Myerberg & Deborah A. G. Drabick

  2. Bloomberg’s School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, 624 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Jill A. Rabinowitz

  3. University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, 3501 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Maureen D. Reynolds

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  1. Lindsay B. Myerberg
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Correspondence to Lindsay B. Myerberg.

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Myerberg, L.B., Rabinowitz, J.A., Reynolds, M.D. et al. Does Negative Emotional Reactivity Moderate the Relation between Contextual Cohesion and Adolescent Well-Being?. J Youth Adolescence 48, 2179–2189 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01053-8

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