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This paper discusses the continued development, theoretical framework, and utility of the
Urban Hassles Index (UHI), which was designed to measure stressors affecting adolescents
in the urban environment. These stressors are chronic and differ in context and content
from the more acute life events that are usually measured in adolescent stressor indices.
This paper highlights factor analysis results of the UHI and the conceptualization of the
dimensions of the index. The UHIs utility as a rapid assessment tool for practitioners and
others working with adolescents is discussed. Directions for future research are also
highlighted. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 5:8594 (2005)]
KEY WORDS: adolescence, mental health, urban hassles, major life events, chronic
stressors, scales, indices.
The urban environment presents both advan- of stress-related outcomes for them, it is critical
tages and challenges for adolescents. The study for those providing services and developing
of those challenges remains important to the programs for this population to understand the
field of social welfare and social work. Many daily stressors they encounter, their reaction to
urban adolescents face a myriad of stressors, these stressors, and the consequences of the
including poverty and exposure to violence stressors. Additional knowledge and under-
(Paxton, Robinson, Shah, & Schoeny, 2004; standing of the influence of day-to-day stres-
Safyer, 1994). In order to help these adolescents sors or daily hassles can enhance the assessment
achieve their potential and to lessen the effects of the contributing factors of psychosocial
distress among urban adolescents.
This paper describes the further design and
application of a new tool, the Urban Hassles
From the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case
Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Index (UHI) (Miller, Webster, & MacIntosh,
Contact author: David B. Miller, Mandel School of 2002), which seeks to identify those stressors
Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University,
10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7164. E-mail: experienced by adolescents in the urban
dbm5@po.cwru.edu. environment. It also identifies the effects these
doi:10.1093/brief-treatment/mhi004 hassles have on the mental health status of
Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention Vol. 5 No. 1, Oxford University Press 2005; all rights reserved.
85
MILLER AND TOWNSEND
a sample of adolescents, while providing events alone. For instance, results from
practitioners and researchers with a different Rowlison and Felner (1988) indicate that the
perspective of the contextual circumstances assessment of daily hassles in adolescents lives
surrounding adolescent development within appears to offer a much-needed supplement to
the urban environment. standard life-events methodology, which by
itself is insufficient for fully understanding the
relationship between life stress and adjustment.
Major Life Events or Daily Hassles?
groups. Investigation of chronic stress among work lends support to the need to further study
urban disadvantaged adolescents, however, is chronic stressors. Although the respondents
an important area deserving of further study. were adults, it is conceivable that adolescents
Swearingen and Cohen (1985) developed the who do not have the benefit of resources
Junior High Life Experiences Survey (JHLES) available to adultswould experience equal if
in order to address some of the limitations of not greater negative effects of chronic stress.
previous measures of adolescent stress in that Given that the study was conducted in
the JHLES asks respondents to rate the severity southwestern Ontario, Canada, and the re-
of experiences they have found to be stressful. searchers did not indicate that race or ethnic
This study included two separate groups of background were variables under study, it is
middle school (i.e., 7th and 8th grade) boys presumed that members of minority groups
and girls, with sample sizes of 48 and 233, were not included in this study. While there are
respectively. African American adolescents similar chronic stressors across groups, mem-
composed 25% and 21% of the samples, bers of racial and ethnic groups may experience
respectively. However, the events included on stressors that are qualitatively different.
the scale did not address the daily experiences Lu (1991), in a prospective longitudinal study
of adolescents in an urban environment. For of 50 respondents, found that daily hassles
instance, typical experiences related to daily significantly contributed to mental health
safety in the community were not included in status. Lu found that respondents reporting
the JHLES, such as concern over taking high levels of daily hassles had poorer mental
different ways home each day to avoid drug health outcomes at Time 1. When the sample
dealers and users or concern about the appro- was measured again, daily hassles were found
priate color of clothing to wear to prevent being to be a significant predictor of respondent
victimized. mental health status. Again, the evidence
Omizo, Omizo, and Suzuki (1988) found that points to the fact that chronic, daily stressors
school-age children report experiencing multi- can and do affect mental health status as much
ple stressors; however, as conceptualized in as, if not more than, major life events. The
that study, environmental factors contributed sample, unfortunately, did not include mem-
relatively little to the childrens levels of stress. bers of racial minority groups, and the mean age
Notwithstanding the studys lack of attention of respondents was 39.1 (SD 9.9).
to environmental factors, the researchers sug- In one of the few studies in which a large
gested that stress does manifest in negative number of adolescents of color were included,
outcomes in developmental trajectories. Reynolds, OKoon, Papademetriou, Szczygiel,
In a study of chronic stressors in southwest- and Grant (2001) found that high levels of
ern Ontario, Avison and Turner (1988) found stressful life experiences contributed to in-
that chronic strains significantly contributed to creased reports of somatic complaints. Using
psychological distress (i.e., depression). The a sample of 1,037 adolescents between the
authors suggested that chronic strains may ages of 11 and 15, Reynolds et al. suggested
have a greater effect on mental health status in that somatic complaints were associated with
that they are unresolved, continuing difficul- chronic exposure to environmental stress.
ties for the individual (p. 261). These These researchers sought to address only effects
researchers also posited that life-event mea- that were internalized by the adolescents, and
sures of stress often include items that are pointed out that much of the extant literature on
actually chronic and continuous stressors. This stress and adolescents did not include members
TABLE 1. Factor Analysis of Urban Hassles Scale Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
Cronbachs alpha for the entire UHI was .85. dimensions (somatization, obsessive-compulsive,
Unweighted additive subscale scores were interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, and depres-
created from the items loading on each of the sion). For the present study, only the anxiety
four components (see Table I). The first subscale and depression items were included. The
consisted of seven items reflecting hassles anxiety subscale consists of 6 items assessing
related to external (environmental) conditions symptoms and behaviors associated clinically
(e.g., loud cars and loud neighbors at night; with high manifest anxiety (e.g., nervous or
item loadings .53 to .76; possible range of shakiness inside, trembling). The depression
scores 021; a .77). The second subscale subscale consists of 10 items assessing a broad
consisted of six items reflecting hassles related range of symptoms and behaviors associated
to interpersonal interactions/surveillance (e.g., clinically with depressive syndrome (e.g.,
asked to sell drugs; item loadings .46 to .80; crying easily, feeling blue or sad). For each
possible range of scores 018; a .75). The anxiety and depression item, participants were
third subscale consisted of five items reflecting asked how much that problem has bothered
hassles related to safety concerns (e.g., worry- them during the past 7 days (coded 1 not at
ing about safety of family members; item all to 4 extremely bothered). Higher scores
loadings .42 to .83; possible range of scores represented greater anxiety or depressive
015; a .75). The fourth subscale consisted symptomatology.
of three items reflecting hassles related to Both subscales of the HSCL and the total scale
anticipatory victimization (e.g., having to take showed adequate internal consistency in the
a longer way to school or work to avoid trouble; present study (a .80 for anxiety, .83 for
item loadings .63 to .75; possible range of depression, and .87 for the total). The mean
scores 09; a .69). Correlations between anxiety score was 8.15 (SD 2.81, observed
subscales ranged from .28 to .50, all p .01. range 622), the mean depressive symptoms
Scores on the total UHI could range from 0 to 63 score was 14.97 (SD 5.21, observed range
(a .85). Higher scores represented greater 834), and the mean total score was 23.09 (SD
hassles. The mean UHI score was 14.55 (SD 7.26, observed range 1449).
10.01, observed range 044). The second measure of mental health was the
Adolescent Symptom Inventory (ASI), which
Mental Health. Two widely used standard- consists of questions from the subscales of
ized measures were included to assess adoles- conduct disorder and posttraumatic stress dis-
cents mental health. One was the Hopkins order (PTSD). The mean score was 5.62 (SD
Symptom Checklist (HSCL) (Derogatis, Lipman, 6.73, observed range 039). The ASI showed
Rickels, Uhlenhuth, & Covi, 1974). The 58-item adequate internal consistency in the present
HSCL assesses common symptoms on five study (a .88).
Results
ANOVA Results
The level of hassles reported on the total UHI
Background Characteristics of Sample
(low, moderate, or high) was significantly
The sample was evenly divided by gender. Of related to all three mental health measures, as
the 254 participants, 248 reported their gender. shown in Table III. The higher the level of
The study had 122 males (49%) and 126 females hassles, the more anxiety and depression and
(51%). The average age of the participants was the higher the ASI score the adolescents
13.76 (SD 2.05), with a range of 1020 years. reported. On every outcome, adolescents expe-
Racial classification was reported for 245 of riencing a low level of hassles reported signi-
the participants. African Americans were the ficantly better mental health than adolescents
majority (n 156, 64%), while whites were the experiencing either a moderate or a high level
next largest group (n 55, 22%). Native of hassles. Similarly, adolescents experiencing
Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Latinos/ a moderate level of hassles reported sig-
Hispanics made up the remainder (n 34, 14%). nificantly better mental health than those
TABLE 2. Bivariate Correlations Between the Urban Hassles Index and Measures of Adolescents Mental Health
(N 254)
experiencing a high level of hassles. The adapt to and cope with them. By understanding
relationship (eta2) between level of hassles and these stressors, practitioners and advocates can
mental health was consistently strong. articulate to policymakers the need to reverse
the community and environmental degradation
experienced by many youths and their families
Discussion within the urban milieu.
The stressors identified by the UHI may
Findings of this study suggest that practitioners provide practitioners with a tool that can serve
must take into account the myriad of daily as a rapid assessment of events affecting ado-
stressors that youths in urban settings must lescents social functioning. From a research per-
confront and the manner in which these youths spective, these findings provide an alternative
Level of Hassles
Significant
Mental Health Measure 1 Low 2 Moderate 3 High F(df) eta2 Contrastsa
framework for investigating the nature and stressors could not be established, nor could we
effects of cumulative stress as well as another control for events that may have interacted
area to investigate regarding the possible with the stressors that contributed to poor
etiology of maladaptive coping skills. mental health outcomes. Future research would
Future research must seek further validation be well served to employ a prospective longi-
of the UHI across different samples. Addition- tudinal approach so that the effects of and
ally, the age range to which the UHI may be reaction to chronic stressors can be examined
applied could be expanded to include young across developmental milestones.
adults. Some hassles (e.g., being pressured to As this study and other research studies may
carry weapons) have a consistently negative suggest, chronic stressors or what this studys
impact across all mental health domains, while authors describe as daily hassles can negatively
others have a selective impact (e.g., working to affect mental health status. Although the
help with finances of home). The magnitude evidence is limited at this time, understanding
and circumstances of the differing effects is an these chronic and ubiquitous stressors is
area needing further investigation. essential for social work practitioners, social
The limitations of this study were its cross- science researchers, and public policymakers.
sectional design, along with the purposive Interventions that do not consider the environ-
sampling strategy. The findings, while inter- mental context in the day-to-day lives of urban
esting, cannot be generalized beyond the adolescents and young adults are doomed
sample from which these data were collected. at best to offer a temporary respite; at worst,
The effects of long-term exposure to chronic to fail.
Directions: How often do the following happen to you? Thinking back over the last 2 weeks, please
indicate how often these events have happened to you. Please circle the number that best describes
how often an event happened to you.
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