Conceptualizing High School Students' Mental Health Through a Dual-Factor Model
Shannon M. Suldo
University of South Florida
Amanda Thalji-Raitano
Hillsborough County Public Schools
Sarah M. Kiefer
University of South Florida
John M. Ferron
University of South Florida
Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to Shannon M. Suldo,
Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, EDU 105, Tampa, FL 33620
; e-mail:
The authors of this manuscript would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following members of their university research team: Michelle Hasemeyer, Ashley Chappel Diehl, Michael Frank, Melanie McMahan Albers, and Brenna Hoy.
Shannon M. Suldo, PhD, is a professor in the School Psychology Program at the University of South Florida and a licensed psychologist in Florida. She received her PhD in School Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 2004. Her primary research interests include evidence-based interventions for promoting students' subjective well-being and reducing symptoms of psychopathology; school-wide strategies to identify students without complete mental health; and stress, coping, and academic and emotional success of high school students in accelerated curricula. She is a former associate editor of School Psychology Review.
Amanda Thalji-Raitano, PhD, is a school psychologist in Hillsborough County Public Schools. She received her PhD in School Psychology from the University of South Florida in 2012. She is interested in applications of evidence-based mental health interventions in the school setting.
Sarah M. Kiefer, PhD, is an associate professor in the Educational Psychology Program at the University of South Florida. She received her PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois in 2007. Her research interests include adolescent motivation and development. Specifically, her research focuses on examining adolescents' academic and social motivation and how it relates to social, psychological, and academic adjustment; identifying the role of peer relationships in adolescent development and school adjustment; and promoting developmentally responsive learning environments for adolescent learners.
John M. Ferron, PhD, is a professor in the Educational Measurement and Research Program at the University of South Florida. He received his PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of North Carolina in 1993. His research interests focus on the development and application of statistical methods for educational research.
Associate Editor: John Hitchcock
Mental health is increasingly viewed as a complete state of being, consisting of the absence of psychopathology and the presence of positive factors such as subjective well-being (SWB). This cross-sectional study analyzed multimethod and multisource data for 500 high school students (ages 14–18 years, M = 15.27 years, SD = 1.0 years) to examine how mental health, defined in a dual-factor model, relates to adjustment. Relevant outcomes within self-determination theory include academic adjustment, social adjustment, identity development, and physical health. A dual-factor model was supported through identification of four groups: complete mental health (62.2% of sample), vulnerable (11.4%), symptomatic but content (11.4%), and troubled (15%). Results extend the importance of high SWB to optimal functioning during middle adolescence, as students with complete mental health (high SWB, low psychopathology) reported better outcomes than vulnerable students (low SWB despite low psychopathology) in terms of academic attitudes, perceptions of overall physical health, social support and satisfaction with romantic relationships, and identity development. Among students with elevated psychopathology, those with high SWB (symptomatic-but-content group) reported greater academic self-perceptions, perceived physical health, social support and satisfaction with romantic relationships (as well as less peer victimization), and identity development than their peers with low SWB (troubled group). Main effects of SWB in multilevel models that controlled for psychopathology and demographic covariates further illustrate the additive value of SWB in mental health assessments in terms of explaining unique variance in student adjustment in all four domains examined.
Received: December 6, 2012; Accepted: November 30, 2015;
Copyright 2016 by the National Association of School Psychologists
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