Adolescents at home: An exploratory study of the relationship between perception of family social climate,general well-being,and actual behavior in the home setting

This study investigated the relationship between behavior in the home environment and perception of family social climate and personal well-being in a social-ecological perspective. Participants in the study were 46 eighth-grade students, who provided information on their use of the home environment, their perception of family social climate through the Family Environment Scale (FES), and their sense of well-being through the General Well-Being Questionnaire (GWBQ). Multiple regression analyses revealed several strong relationships between the variables. First, and most important, a strong positive relationship between adolescents' sense of well-being and time spent with adults in leisure and recreational activities in the home was identified. Second, selected home setting behaviors, including watching television, were found to account for approximately 40% of the variance in adolescents' scores on the Intellectual-Cultural Orientation subscale of the FES. Implications were drawn for research on the relationship between perception of social climate, optimal human functioning, and actual behavior in specified settings.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by the second author to the Department of Psychology, George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University. The data for the study were collected as part of a larger investigation of alienation and integration of adolescents in community settings, which was funded by a grant to the Center for Community Studies, George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, by the National Institute of Mental Health.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College for Teachers. Major interests are problems of adolescents, particularly age segregation and alienation in community settings.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College for Teachers. Major interests are ecological relationships and issues in school and home settings.