Relocation Stress in Adolescents

Puskar, Kathryn

Abstract

The goal of this proposal is the improvement of education through acquisition of knowledge about how transfer students cope with adjustment in a new school. This knowledge will enhance the ability of teachers, school nurses, guidance counselors, and school administrators to educate the transfer student. The study will estimate the prevalence of depression, unhappiness, and anxiety in a cohort of adolescents who experience a geographic move. The objective is to establish baseline data on how adolescents cope with a move using six instruments: the Relocation Survey, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, The Ways of Coping Questionnaire, the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, the Rosenberg-Simmons Depressive Affect Scale, the Life Events Checklist. The intervention of a coping skills group will also be tested. Approximately 16 percent of the United States population, or one in six families, moves each year (U.S. Census Bureau, 1984). Literature on relocation stress reports both successful adaptation and trauma for children and adults. Few articles consider the impact of relocation on the adolescent. It is the aim of this study to contribute to the improvement of education by adding to the body of knowledge regarding the impact of relocation stress on the family by focusing on the adolescent's experience. The sample will include 50 adolescents aged 14-15 who have moved within the past three months and 50 adolescents as a control group who have not moved; they will be recruited from a mobile suburb of Western Pennsylvania. The results of the study will offer implications for teachers, school guidance counselors, parents, and health care professionals who are concerned with promoting positive school adjustment. The findings of the proposed study i.e., an estimation of a high risk cohort of adolescents who experience depression, anxiety, or unhappiness in association with the life event of a geographic relocation can be applied to future studies which would address whether a cohort of high risk relocated adolescents are more vulnerable to alcoholism, drug abuse, and other psychological problems. In a future study a larger cohort of relocated adolescents will be examined longitudinally utilizing middle and low income schools to determine whether the intervention can help the vulnerability of the relocated teen. A reasonable proposition is that adolescents just as adults, are also vulnerable to relocation stress and that coping and support would enhance adaptation.