Community, Family, and Individual Factors Associated with Adolescents’ Vulnerability, Daily Stress, and Well-being Following Family Separation

This study identified correlates of resilience among adolescents from separated families. Twenty-four adolescents (age 9–14 years) and their parents completed measures of sociodemographic risk and protective factors, interparental conflict, and adolescent responses to conflict. Adolescents reported their behavior, learning, mood, and anxiety difficulties as well as their stress and well-being using a 5-day diary. Resilient adolescents reported more constructive family representations, reported lower interparental conflict, and were from schools and neighborhoods that were more advantaged. Resilient adolescents reported significantly less stress across the diary days than vulnerable adolescents. The results of this study highlight the role of sociodemographic factors, family functioning, and adolescents’ own individual characteristics in their adjustment to their parents’ separation.