Family support vital for mental health

Adolescents: Support given to vulnerable adolescents by family and friends is far more important to them than support from professionals, such as social workers, teachers and psychologists, according to a pioneering study.

The study, which looked at the cases of almost 200 young people in three towns in the West of Ireland, was undertaken by Dr Pat Dolan of the Child and Family Research Unit in Galway. The findings of the study are to be published in the autumn.

Professionals should focus on encouraging these "natural" supports in their work with adolescents rather than assuming they [as specialists] knew best, he said.

Dr Dolan tracked the social supports and mental well-being of 172 adolescents attending Neighbourhood Youth Projects (NYPs) in counties Mayo and Roscommon over nine months. NYPs are jointly run by Foróige and health boards, located predominantly in disadvantaged areas, and offer a range of services, activities and supports to people aged 10 to 18 years.

The adolescents taking part in Dr Dolan's study would be involved in annual follow-ups, he explained.

It is the first longitudinal study of adolescence undertaken in this State, the focus of which is on the relationship between perceived supports and mental well-being.

While he tracked all 172 over the nine-month period, Dr Dolan focused particularly on the 20 with the best supports and the 20 with the worst. He saw them every two months, asking about their lives, how they felt/reacted to life and how they coped.

He identified the types of support and found four - practical, emotional, advice and esteem. The most important of these was emotional, he said.

"If they were lacking any but had good emotional support - those kids fared best." By emotional he means "hugging, cuddling, caring".

Those who could count on that kind of support were more resilient, he found. And the most resilient were those who perceived themselves to have strong supports from "natural" sources - family and friends.

Mothers were nominated the most as an important source of support, even in situations where they were neglectful or emotionally absent.

In the worst cases, however, where a young person felt they had no supports, even the mother was not named.

"Fathers were absolutely nominated. When they were absent, the kids spoke of wanting a closeness with their fathers. Siblings were not rated highly, though this may be an adolescent perspective."

He said grandparents, the extended family and neighbours were all frequently identified as important sources of support. "Professionals were not highly rated. Many did not include them at all."

It was an important finding, he said, and could be seen as a good result. "The message is that family and friends are the most important resource to invest in to encourage mental well-being among adolescents.

"The three core reasons are that these supports come naturally, the young person is not going to feel beholden to the person supporting them and that the support is available outside nine to five," said Dr Dolan, who is joint manager of the Western Health Board/NUI Galway unit.

"From a social policy point of view of course, it's extremely cheap. It's the cheapest form of social intervention."

With increasing concerns about adolescent depressions, eating disorders and even suicide, Dr Dolan stressed the overwhelming finding that those who perceived themselves to have strong natural supports were mentally stronger.

This mental well-being also holds over time, the longer the supports are there.

Those kids who stayed longest at the NYPs were the strongest. Those who perceived themselves to have strong supports made themselves more "supportable", he said.

"There's an issue of having support available and being able to access it, of the kids' ability to reach out and ask for it." Those who felt themselves to be supported were more able to "reach out and ask for it".

Among those faring worst, one in five was not able to nominate even one close friend.

Looking at negative life events, or "hassles", he said daily hassles with parents were a big issue. "Not alone do those with low social supports have less good mental health, but they also experience more negative life events."

These young people seem to almost "attract" them. Being less emotionally well in themselves, they get into more arguments, into more trouble with gardaí, almost as if they are "acting out", in part perhaps expressing anger at the lack of support in their lives.

For professionals, the study raises questions about whether the support they give is the support that's needed. Family supports should be invoked whenever possible, rather than referring a vulnerable young person to various professionals.

Dr Dolan speaks with enthusiasm of the New Zealand policy of "mandatory supporting". If a young person was in difficulty, social workers could legally oblige family to come together to try to work solutions rather than decisions being made by a social worker, he explained.

"This research shows that while there has been a big improvement in family supports, when it comes to addressing the issue of young people in trouble, the vast majority of funding still goes into expensive care units.

"It would be a lot cheaper, and better, to invest in community-based programmes supporting families. It works and it's worth the investment."

Copies of this research are available from Dr Pat Dolan at NUI Galway on 091 524411, ext 2930.