Worry and Social Support in Adolescence

he purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between worry and social support in adolescence. The sample consisted of 570 students (292 females, 278 males; Mean age =16.85).The participants completed the Children and Adolescence Social Support Questionnaire (Tahmasian, 2005) and the Penn-State Worry Questionnaire (Meyer et al. 1990). Data were analyzed using correlation coefficient and regression. The results indicated that the relationship between social support and worry was significantly negative in both sexes as well as across different grades. As social support increases, worry decreases and by decreasing social support, worry increases. Also, social support accounted for 14% of the variance in worry. These findings suggest that the social support can be a protective factor against worry in adolescence. In addition, family and peer groups can be influential in prevention and therapeutic programs that focus on decreasing and treating worry.