Hassles, Role Strain, and Peer Relations in Young Adolescents

Abstract

The impact of hassles, or daily stressors, on the lives of adults has been demonstrated by Lazarus and his colleagues. Conceptual relevance of the hassles construct for young adolescent populations, theoretical interplay between self-reported hassles and role strain in youth, and the relationship between role strain and adolescent peer relations have received scant research attention to date. To address these issues, the authors developed the Adolescent Hassles Inventory (AHI), patterning it after the Hassles Scale developed for adults by Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, and Lazarus, and administered it to 246 sixth grade students. AHI reliability data supported feasibility of the measurement approach for young adolescents. Factor analysis of the condensed 50-item AHI scale revealed eight item clusters, five of which suggested underlying scale dimensions reflecting adolescent roles of student, peer, drug user/non-user, son/daughter, and worker. Subscales created from item factor loading data correlated significantly with a measure of peer relations as did the global AHI scores. Findings suggest that role strain, as measured by aggregated hassles scores, correlates inversely with young adolescent satisfaction with peer group relations, particularly for males.