Social Capital, Gender Socialization, and Domestic Structures: Evaluating Socio-Demographic Disparities in Adolescent Psychosocial Wellbeing

Abstract

Adolescent psychosocial development and educational adjustment are shaped significantly by intersecting socio-demographic determinants, including gender socialization, geographic locality, and domestic family structures. This study examines socio-demographic disparities in adolescent self-expression, personality adaptation, educational aspirations, and peer group relationships across secondary school cohorts. Utilizing a quantitative positivist paradigm and a comparative cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from a stratified random sample of N = 600 secondary school students (Classes IX to X; aged 13 to 19 years) across rural and urban institutional locations in West Bengal. Independent samples t-tests were executed to evaluate group variances based on Gender (Male N = 415, Female N = 185), Locality (Rural N = 241, Urban N = 359), and Family Type (Nuclear N = 493, Joint N = 107). The independent samples t-tests revealed statistically significant group differences: male adolescents scored higher than females in self-expression (M = 81.82 vs. 79.83, t = 2.28, p = 0.023), personality adaptation (M = 79.16 vs. 75.20, t = 3.77, p < 0.001), educational aspirations (M = 85.75 vs. 82.74, t = 2.749, p = 0.006), and peer relationships (M = 77.91 vs. 74.66, t = 2.188, p = 0.029). Rural adolescents unexpectedly outperformed urban peers in educational aspirations (M = 88.61 vs. 82.27, t = 6.301, p < 0.001, d = 0.525), personality (M = 81.06 vs. 75.84, t = 5.317, p < 0.001), self-expression (M = 83.00 vs. 79.99, t = 3.687, p < 0.001), and peer relationships (M = 79.15 vs. 75.41, t = 2.685, p = 0.007). Furthermore, nuclear family students registered higher scores than joint family peers in educational aspirations (M = 85.50 vs. 81.71, t = 2.863, p = 0.004), personality (M = 78.51 vs. 75.19, t = 2.590, p = 0.010), and self-expression (M = 81.61 vs. 79.27, t = 2.218, p = 0.027), while peer relationships showed no significant family-type variance (p = 0.113). The findings demonstrate that sociodemographic stratifications exert a powerful influence on adolescent psychosocial and educational profiles, highlighting the need for context-specific institutional policies that address gender pressures, leverage rural community resilience, and foster supportive communication channels across diverse domestic structures.