Family Dynamics, Supportive Relationships, and Educational Resilience During Adolescence

If problematic relationships with parents are an academic risk factor during adolescence, then nonparental sources of support (e.g., friends, siblings, and teachers) may be arenas of comfort that promote educational resilience in the face of such risk. In a series of structural models using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors found that nonparental relationships are more likely to be directly associated with academic behavior than to interact with parent-related risk. Protective interactions occur only among certain subgroups. For example, close relationships with teachers and involvement with friends protect against parent-related academic risk among Asian American adolescents, whereas support from friends operates similarly for younger girls. In other subgroups, parental and nonparental relationships interact but not in a protective way. These patterns demonstrate the complex interplay of developmental ecology and larger social structures during the adolescent stage of life as well as the context-specific nature of resilience.