A Two-Year Longitudinal Study of Stressful Life Events, Social Support, and Social Problem-Solving Skills: Contributions to Children's Behavioral and Academic Adjustment Eric F. Dubow, John Tisak, David Causey^ Ann and Graham Reid Bowling Green State University DLTBOW, Emc P.; TISAK, JOHN; CAUSEY, DAVID,- HRVSHKO, ANN,- and REID, GRAHAM. A Two-Year

Longitudinal Study of Stressful Life Events, Social Support, and Social Problem-Solving Skills: Contributions to Children's Behavioral and Academic Adjustment. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1991, 62, 583-599. We investigated the contributions of stressful life events and resources (social support and social problem-solving skills) to predicting changes in children's adjustment. At Time 1, 361 third throughfifWigraders completed measures of social support and social problemsolving skills. Their parents completed a stressful life events scale and a child behavior rating measure. The children's teachers provided ratings of behavioral and academic adjustment, 2-year follow-up data (Time 2) were obtained for approximately half of the sample on the same measures. Time 1 stressful life events and resources showed some significant but modest zero-order correlations with the Time 2 adjustment indices. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed prospective efFects for Time 1 social support on later teacher-rated competencies and grade-point average. In addition, increases over time in soeial support and social problem-solving skills (a composite score) were significantly related to improvement in behavioral and academic adjustment, whereas stressful life events were not predictive of adjustment.

There is now a great deal of evidence supporting a relation between exposure to cumulative stressful life events (e.g., parental separation/divorce, change in school or residence, mother becoming employed) and emotional and behavioral maladjustment in children and adolescents (e.g., Compas, Howell, Phares, Williams, & Giunta, 1989; Dubow & Tisak, 1989). Because the relations are only modest in magnitude, researchers have begun to examine the contribution of environmental and personal resources to predicting adjustment in children (Compas, 1987; Rutter, 1987). For the most part, these studies have been crosssectional in nature, and are thus unable to address the potential etiological impact of stressful life events and resource variables on adjustment. The few prospective studies involving children and adolescents (Cohen, Burt, & Bjorck, 1987; Compas et al., 1989; Gersten, Langner, Eisenberg, & Simcha-

Fagan, 1977; Swearingen & Cohen, 1985) have generally focused on children past the elementary school ages and have generally placed more emphasis on the contribution of risk factors rather than resource variables, Gersten et al. (1977) found that mothers' reports of their children's stressful life events failed to predict behavioral adjustment 5 years later, after controlling for initial level of adjustment and other chronic processes (sociodemographic, family environment, and parenting variables). Swearingen and Cohen (1985) utilized self-reports of life events and adjustment (anxiety and depression) in a 5-month prospective study of seventh and eighth graders. After controlling for Time 1 adjustment. Time 2 stressful events failed to predict Time 2 adjustment In a study with a larger sample of seventh and eighth graders, Cohen et al. (1987) found that after controlling for Time 1 adjustment.

This research was supported by a grant awarded to the first author by the Ohio Board of Regents Research Challenge program. Thanks are due to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Thanks are also due to the Toledo and Northwood school systems in Ohio for their cooperation and support of this research project. Requests for reprints should be sent to Eric F. Dubow, Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403. [Child Development, 1991,62,583-599. © 1991 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/91/6203-0011$01.00]

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Time 2 controllable events, but not uncontrollable events, significantly predicted Time 2 adjustment, but Time 1 events had no effect on Time 2 adjustment. Compas et ai. (1989), however, did find significant effects for Time 1 stressful events on the subsequent adjustment of 10-15-year-olds, but the percentage of variance explained was only %%. These results call into question any strong etiological effect of stressful life events on subsequent at^ustment in children and adolescents. A few aspects of these studies should be highlighted. In terms of the data analysis strategies, Cohen et al. (1987) describe two approaches commonly followed in prospective stressful life events research and the problems inherent in each approach. The "longitudinal approach" assesses the relation between Time 2 events (events occurring within the past several months but assessed at Time 2) and Time 2 adjustment after controlling for Time 1 adjustment; this approach examines the ability of Time 2 stressors to predict change in adjustment from Time 1 to Time 2. However, it is possible that some third variable (e.g., disturbed parent-child relations) actually causes both stressors and adjustment. In addition, a reverse causal explanation is possible; changes in adjustment may cause changes in stressors. The second approach, the "prospective approach," examines the relation between Time 1 stressors and Time 2 adjustment after controlling for Time 1 adjustment. This approach tests the efifect of Time 1 stressors on change in adjustment and may be useful if one is attempting to examine whether events occurring at one point in time place an individual at risk for adjustment difBculties at some future date. This approach is not vulnerable to a reverse causal explanation due to the temporal sequence of the variables being measured. However, the prospective design is stiM vulnerable to a third variable explanation. In addition, exposure to events is unlikely to be static; both initial exposure to stressors and subsequent changes in the level of stressful events may be more important in predicting changes over time in adjustment than simply initial level of stressors (see Caspi, Bolger, & Eckenrode, 1987). Holahan and Moos (1981) studied the contributions of changes over time in stressors and social support to predicting changes over time in adults' adjustment and found support for the notion that the critical aspect of stressors or resources may be the change in these vari-

ables from baseline levels. However, findings of significant relations between changes in these variables and changes in adjustment are open to a reverse causal explanation (i.e., changes in adjustment may cause changes in events or social support). The present study allows for the examination of both prospective relations and whether changes in stressors and resources are related to changes in adjustment In addition, the prospective studies reviewed above focused primarily on the contribution of stressful life events and other risk factors, raUier than resources (for exceptions, see Burt, Cohen, and Bjorck [1988] and Glyshaw, Cohen, and Towbes [1989]). As noted by Compas (1987), if we are to understand processes enhancing positive development and preventing maia (M O « (M t -

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adjustment measures. Because the blocks of these Time 1 variables were not significant, caution should be taken in examining any variables that were significant within the blocks. However, because prospective findings over a 2-year time period are somewhat uncommon, those found will be noted: higher levels of initial social support (total score) predicted higher grade-point averages, and higher levels of initial family support predicted higher levels of teacher-rated competencies. In step 3, Tabie 4 shows that the set of Time 2 predictors accounted for an additional 13% to 22% of the variance in Time 2 adjustment. Specifically, increases in social support {total score and peer support) and social problem-solving skills (SPS Composite) were related to improvement in teacher-rated problems and competencies, and grade-point average; and increases in family support predicted increases in teacher-rated competencies. Increases in social problem solving (but not social support) predicted improvement in parent-rated behavior problems. Changes in stressful life events were unrelated to changes in adjustment.'' In the final step of the hierarchical regressions (not shown in Table 4), no significant findings emerged for the interaction terms of Time 2 stressful events x Time 2 social support and Time 2 stressful events x Time 2 SPS Composite in predicting any of the adjustment indices. Prediction of stress ^nd resource variables.—-bindings that changes in the stress and resource variables are related to changes in adjustment are open to a reverse causal explanation, and some studies with adolescents support such an explanation (Compas et al., 1986, 1989). Thus, three additional sets of hierarchical multiple regressions were computed, using the same approach as in the previous analyses; however, in these regressions, the criterion variables were Time 2 stress, social support, and SFS Composite. In the first step, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and the Time 1 criterion variable (e.g.. Time 1 SPS Composite in the regression predicting Time 2 SPS Composite) were entered. In the second step, one of

the four Time 1 adjustment measures was entered; the additional Time 1 predictors were also entered (e.g.. Time 1 stress and social support in the regression predicting Time 2 S!^ Composite) for statistical control of these variables and to maintain consistency between these regressions and those described in the previous section. Significant results for tiie Time 1 adjustment measure in this step would lend support for the causal role of early adjustment. In the third step, the Time 2 predictors were entered, including the corresponding Time 2 adjustment measure; significant results for the Time 2 adjustment measure would indicate that changes in adjustment over time are related to changes in the criterion over time. For each of the three criterion variables, four regressions were computed, one for each adjustment measure. TTie results of these 12 regression analyses are not presented in a tabie. In the first step, the Time 1 criterion was consistently related to the Time 2 criterion. In the second step, only one prospective effect was found across the 12 analyses: Time 1 parent-rated problems was a significant predictor of change in stressful iife events (beta = .20, p < .05, R^ for step = .04, F[3,100] = 1.44, N.S.). In the third step, oniy two of the Time 2 adjustment measures were significant predictors of social support: teacher-rated problems (beta = - .27, p < .05; R^ for step = .07, F[(3,98] = 2.55, p < . 10) and teacher-rated competencies (beta .37, p < .01; fl2 for step = .14, F[3,93] = 5.18, p < .01). Only Time 2 teacher-rated problems was a significant predictor of SPS Composite (beta = - .25, p < .05; R^ for step = .09, F[3,98] = 3.13, p < .05). EKscussion Few prospective studies of stressful life events and resource variables have been conducted with children and adolescents, and those that have been conducted have generally focused on older children. This study examined h&th prospective effects of stressors and resoiu"ces (social support and social pr