Socioeconomic status and internalizing–externalizing behaviours as predictors of student subjective well-being among adolescents

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56922/mhc.v5i5.3572

Authors

  • Ghina Aliya Mufidah Universitas Malahayati
  • Asri Mutiara Putri Universitas Malahayati
  • Prida Harkina Universitas Malahayati

Adolescents Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviours Socioeconomic Status Student Subjective Well-Being.

Abstract

Background: High school students in coastal communities may experience academic, psychological, and socioeconomic challenges associated with their quality of school life.

Purpose: To examine the simultaneous and individual associations of parental socioeconomic status and internalizing–externalizing behaviours with student subjective well-being.

Method: This quantitative cross-sectional correlational study involved 248 Grade X and XI students at Senior High School 1 Padang Cermin, Lampung, recruited through quota sampling. Data were collected using the Student Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire (SSWQ), a socioeconomic status index adapted from the Kuppuswamy scale, and the Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Screener (YIEPS).

Results: The overall regression model was statistically significant, indicating that parental socioeconomic status and internalizing externalizing behaviours were jointly associated with student subjective well-being.

Conclusion: Internalizing externalizing behaviours were more strongly associated with lower student subjective well-being than parental socioeconomic status in this sample. The limited variation in socioeconomic status may partly explain its nonsignificant association. These findings suggest that school-based psychological support and early behavioural interventions may help improve students' subjective well-being.

Keywords: Adolescents; Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviours; Socioeconomic Status; Student Subjective Well-Being.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Arslan, G., & Coşkun, M. (2020). Student subjective wellbeing, school functioning, and psychological adjustment in high school adolescents: A latent variable analysis. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 4(2), 153–164.

Babicka-Wirkus, A., Kozłowski, P., Wirkus, Ł., & Stasiak, K. (2023). Internalizing and externalizing disorder levels among adolescents: Data from Poland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2752.

Bashar, M. A. (2019). Updating the Kuppuswamy's socioeconomic status scale for the year 2019. Indian Journal of Community and Family Medicine, 5(2), 162–163.

Christner, N., Essler, S., Hazzam, A., & Paulus, M. (2021). Children's psychological well-being and problem behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online study during the lockdown period in Germany. PLOS ONE, 16(6), e0253473.

D'Ambrosio, C., Jäntti, M., & Lepinteur, A. (2020). Money and happiness: Income, wealth and subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 148(1), 47–66.

de Abreu, P. M. E., Neumann, S., Wealer, C., Abreu, N., Macedo, E. C., & Kirsch, C. (2021). Subjective well-being of adolescents in Luxembourg, Germany, and Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 69(2), 211–218.

DeBoer, J. L., & Long, A. C. (2024). A comparison of self-report measures to screen for mental health concerns in youth. School Mental Health, 16(1), 25–40.

Fornander, M. J., & Kearney, C. A. (2020). Internalizing symptoms as predictors of school absenteeism severity at multiple levels: Ensemble and classification and regression tree analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 3079.

Han, K. (2021). Students' well-being: The mediating roles of grit and school connectedness. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 787861.

McCabe, E. M., Davis, C., Mandy, L., & Wong, C. (2022). The role of school connectedness in supporting the health and well-being of youth: Recommendations for school nurses. NASN School Nurse, 37(1), 42–47.

Statistics Indonesia. (2025). Poverty profile in Indonesia, September 2024. Statistics Indonesia.

Statistics Indonesia of Pesawaran Regency. (2025). Pesawaran Regency in figures 2025. Statistics Indonesia of Pesawaran Regency.

Tian, L., Zheng, J., Huebner, E. S., & Liu, W. (2022). Brief adolescents' subjective well-being in school scale: Measurement invariance and latent mean differences across school levels among Chinese students. Current Psychology, 41(5), 3135–3143.

Tobia, V., Greco, A., Steca, P., & Marzocchi, G. M. (2019). Children's wellbeing at school: A multi-dimensional and multi-informant approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(3), 841–861.

Weeks, S. N., Renshaw, T. L., Rainey, A. A., & Hiatt, A. (2024). Evaluating a unified screener for adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Emotional and Behavioural Disorders, 32(1), 24–35.

Downloads

Published

2026-08-15