The Relationships Between Adolescents' Perceptions of Family Communication And Adolescents' Internal Strengths In India

Abstract

The positive youth development (PYD) approach that emphasises the strengths rather than the risks, weaknesses, and limitations of adolescents and youth, has been gaining momentum in research and practice with adolescents globally. Developing adolescents, who stand at the crossroads between childhood and adulthood, in a positive manner is vital to the future of civil society anywhere in the world. Against this backdrop, India has become the centre of attention - not only for being home to the largest number of adolescents in the world, but also for a dramatic increase in adolescents' risk-taking behaviours. At the same time, there is less utilization of a PYD framework as a support system for adolescents' positive development in India. In order to promote positive development, much attention has recently been given to adolescents' internal strengths, which are the skills, competencies, and values among adolescents worldwide. All over the world, adolescents' positive connectedness with family is perceived to play a critical role in adolescents' well-being. Positive communication between adolescents and family members is seen as a protective factor against a range of risk behaviours among adolescents. However, very little is known about the relationship between adolescent-family communication and adolescents' internal strengths in India and internationally. Therefore, the current study examines this relationship in India. This cross-sectional study utilised two standardised ordinal scales: the 10-item Adolescent-Family Communication scale (FCS) and the 58-item Developmental Asset Profile (DAP). Quantitative data were collected through two phases from adolescents (N = 509) aged 14 to 17 years who were studying in the highest classes (10th level) of 10 high schools in Kerala State in India. In this quantitative non-experimental descriptive study, adolescents' internal strengths (also known as 'internal assets'), embedded in the developmental asset framework by the Search Institute, Minneapolis, were measured through four latent factors: commitment to learning; positive identity; social competency; and positive values. The thematic battery of adolescent-family communication comprised five factors including adolescents' perceptions of general family communication; adolescent-father communication; adolescent-mother communication; adolescent-sibling communication; and adolescent-grandparent communication. Although systematic translation procedures were carried out, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that the adapted scales in this study moderately deviated from their original psychometric structure. However, this study proposed a theoretically plausible and statistically good-fitting refined model (RMSEA = .054, CFI = .828, SRMR = .063, ĝ = .927) for understanding the way in which adolescents' communication with different family members contribute to their perceptions of general family communication and also adolescents' positive values, social competencies and positive identity, and commitment to learning. The SEM demonstrated that both adolescent-father communication (AFC) and adolescent-mother communication (AMC) together had a very large size positive effect on adolescents' perceptions of general family communication (R² = .67, Ꝭ² = 2.0). Adolescents' general family communication (GFC) significantly and positively contributed to three factors of adolescents' internal strengths including adolescents' social competency (R² = 0.21, Ꝭ² = 0.26), positive values (R² = .22, Ꝭ² = 0 .28), and positive identity (R² = 0.09, Ꝭ² = 0.10). Conspicuously, adolescents' commitment to learning was directly related to adolescent-father communication (R² = .30, Ꝭ² = .42). A positive and mutual correlation between all four factors of adolescents' internal strengths (correlation coefficients vary between .44 and .87) and also between adolescent-father communication and adolescent-mother communication (Φ = .72, p < .001) was established. In general, the findings of this study suggested a critical role for adolescents' perceptions of family communication and their perceptions of communication with both paternal and maternal roles in promoting adolescents' internal strengths. Methodology and practice level recommendations included the application of the developed model with diverse adolescent populations in India and abroad, specifically with the Indian adolescent diaspora internationally.