Peer relationships and Mental Healthin Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders : A Quantitative analysis

Sammanfattning: Adolescence is a time of change where maturational milestones lead to the prioritization of peerinput, and the social context becomes crucial in its influence of those milestones. Adolescents socialcontext requires adapting to complex social norms through self-regulation, a process which adolescents having neurodevelopmental disorders struggle with, bounding them to a certain incompetencein dealing with the peer group and friendships. In a time where interconnection becomes crucial inconforming the self-concept, it makes sense struggles in this area would influence the experience ofmental health. In this crossectional quantitative study adolescents with NDDs friendship experiencein class and its relation to well-being is analyzed using the data from the prospective longitudinalsurvey LoRDIA project. Variables such as reciprocity and rejection were created from peer nominations and used alongside items on perceived support and the MHC-Mental health continuumscale rating of flourishing. Descriptives, Chi-squares and logistic regression were conducted usingSPSS. Results show an association between well-being and the friendship experience but not between well-being and the presence of an NDD. Adolescents with an NDD experience less reciprocity, more rejection and lower perceived support in higher frequency than their peers. Discussion isguided by the family of Participation Related Constructs (fPRC) and the Two continuum modelperspective of well-being. Methodological limitations and future interventions based on the discussion are exposed.