Predictors of Emotional Well-Being in At-Risk Adolescent Girls: Developing Preventive Intervention Strategies

This article examines the degree to which various demographic characteristics, personality traits, and environmental factors are associated with overall emotional well-being of 125 adolescent girls whose mothers were involved in welfare reform. Daughters participated in a 4-year, mixed method study and annually completed a structured interview protocol and a sub-group also completed a qualitative interview. The quantitative findings from the study suggest that daughters having an internal locus of control, experiencing fewer negative life events, and reporting stronger parental and teacher social support had enhanced emotional well-being over the 4-year study compared to daughters without these factors. The findings were further elaborated with examples from qualitative interviews conducted with the daughters. The findings were used to propose prevention activities using a tertiary mental health preventive intervention framework.