Stress and wellbeing among Turkish and German adolescents living in rural and urban areas.

INTRODUCTION This study focuses on stress experiences and the psychological wellbeing of adolescents from rural and urban areas of Turkey and Germany. It also analyzes the role of social support, family problem solving and self-construals (independent vs interdependent) for stress and wellbeing in the different subsamples. METHODS The total sample included 1850 high school students (500 Turkish urban, 771 Turkish rural, 268 German urban, and 311 German rural). The participants filled in questionnaires related to coping, self-construal, stress and wellbeing. RESULTS The results indicated that the perception of stress is higher for Turkish adolescents than for German adolescents. Moreover, it was found that adolescents who live in rural parts experience more stress than their urban counterparts of both countries. In line with this, adolescents in rural regions report lower wellbeing than adolescents in urban regions. However, the latter difference between urban and rural regions is only salient for adolescents who live in Turkey. The search for possible factors associated with stress and wellbeing showed that coping variables related to social support and to solving family problems as well as variables related to the interdependent-independent distinction might be relevant as predictors. Most of the predicting variables showed non-moderated associations. There were only few moderations related to nation (Turkey vs Germany), location (urban vs rural) or sex. CONCLUSIONS The current study leads to a better understanding of stress experiences and wellbeing of adolescents living in rural and urban areas. As a consequence, improving social systems, especially in developing countries, may support youths to cope with stress effectively and to improve their psychological wellbeing.