Distress as an Outcome in Youth Relationship Education: The Change Mechanisms of Hope and Conflict

• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Author: Jeremy B. Kanter,Daniel G. Lannin,Luke T. Russell,Leandra Parris,Ani Yazedjian
• Date: 01 February 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12497

J B. K, D G. L,  L T. RIllinois State University

L PWilliam & Mary

A YIllinois State University

Emerging Ideas.

Distress as an Outcome in Youth Relationship

Education: The Change Mechanisms of Hope and

Conict

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a

youth relationship education program (YREP)

on psychological functioning and to understand

the mechanisms associated with change in

distress.

Background: Successfully (or unsuccess-

fully) navigating romantic relationships is a

robust predictor of adolescent mental health.

Youth relationship education programs have

been found to promote adaptive relationship

knowledge, attitudes, and skills; however, little

research has examined how such programs

inuence mental health.

Method: This study examined whether sig-

nicant reductions in psychological distress

occurred for a diverse sample of adolescents

(N=113) completing a YREP. The study

also explored whether the curriculum, Love

Notes 3.0, was effective in reducing distress

Department of Child and Family Studies, University

of Tennessee, Knoxville 1215 W. Cumberland Avenue,

418 Jessie W. Harris Building, Knoxville, TN 37996

(jkanter2@utk.edu).

Key Words: adolescent romantic relationships, close rela-

tionships, conict managementand resolution, mental health

issues—adolescents.

due to changes in hope and compromising

conict-resolution behaviors.

Results: From pretest to posttest, psychological

distress decreased for young women but not for

young men. Furthermore, reductions in distress

were associated with simultaneous increases in

hope, but not reductions in conict-resolution

behaviors.

Conclusion: YREPs can assist in improving

youth’s knowledge about adaptive relational

dynamics while also signicantly improving

psychological functioning, primarily through

increasing hope.

Implications: YREPs may be benecial for

youth’s mental health, and hope may play an

important role. Encouraging youth to set clear

goals and promoting self-efcacy for behaviors

that enact those goals may be helpful consider-

ations for those serving youth (and particularly

adolescent young men) in YREPs.

Adolescent psychological distress has increased

in recent decades, with an estimated one in

seven U.S. adolescents experiencing a major

depressive episode in 2018 (Substance Abuse

and Mental Health Services Administration

Family Relations 70 (February 2021): 319–326319

DOI:10.1111/fare.12497