Psychosocial Resources and Adolescent Well-Being: Reassessing the Explanatory Role of Vulnerability

Abstract

This study examined the relative contribution of structural vulnerability and individual psychological resources in explaining subjective well-being among Chilean adolescents. From an ecological perspective, it assessed whether resilience and perseverance, or grit, mediate the relationship between school vulnerability and subjective well-being. A cross-sectional, non-experimental correlational design was used with a sample of 3774 secondary school students in Chile. Subjective well-being, resilience, and perseverance were measured using self-report instruments, whereas school vulnerability was operationalized through the School Vulnerability Index (SVI). Results indicated that school vulnerability was negatively associated with subjective well-being, although with a small effect size. In contrast, resilience and perseverance showed stronger positive associations, with resilience emerging as the strongest predictor in multivariate models. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that SVI and age explained only a small proportion of variance in well-being, whereas adding resilience and perseverance substantially increased explained variance. Bootstrapped mediation analyses indicated significant but small indirect effects, suggesting partial mediation. Resilience accounted for the largest indirect effect. Overall, findings suggest that adolescent subjective well-being is more strongly explained by psychological resources than structural vulnerability alone. These results challenge deterministic interpretations of school vulnerability and highlight the importance of strengthening socioemotional competencies in educational settings.