The Developmental Pathway from Pubertal Timing to Delinquency and Sexual Activity from Early to Late Adolescence

There is strong evidence that early pubertal timing is associated with adolescent problem behaviors. However, there has been limited investigation of the mechanisms or developmental relationships. The present study examined longitudinal models incorporating pubertal timing, delinquency, and sexual activity in a sample of 454 adolescents (9–13 years old at enrollment; 47% females). Participants were seen for three assessments approximately 1 year apart. Characteristics of friendship networks (older friends, male friends, older male friends) were examined as mediators. Structural equation modeling was used to test these associations as well as temporal relationships between sexual activity and delinquency. Results showed that early pubertal timing at Time 1 was related to more sexual activity at Time 2, which was related to higher delinquency at Time 3, a trend mediation effect. None of the friendship variables mediated these associations. Gender or maltreatment status did not moderate the meditational pathways. The results also supported the temporal sequence of sexual activity preceding increases in delinquency. These findings reveal that early maturing adolescents may actively seek out opportunities to engage in sexual activity which appears to be risk for subsequent delinquency.     

Risky Sexual Behaviors in First and Second Generation Hispanic Immigrant Youth

Though official data document that Hispanic youth are at a great risk for early sexual intercourse, STDs, and teen pregnancy, only few etiological studies have been conducted on Hispanic youth; almost no work has examined potential generational differences in these behaviors, and thus, these behaviors may have been mistakenly attributed to cultural differences. The current study examined the relationships between maternal parenting (general communication, communication about sex, monitoring, support) and risky sexual behaviors, and potential moderating effects by immigration status and acculturation in 1st and 2nd generation Hispanic immigrant adolescents (N = 2,016) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves I and II). Maternal communication about sex and maternal support emerged as key predictors of risky sexual behaviors across generational groups; neither immigration status nor acculturation moderated the maternal parenting constructs-risky sexual behaviors links. Furthermore, maternal parenting constructs and their relationships with risky sexual behaviors did not differ by generational groups.

Acculturation and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latina Adolescents Transitioning to Young Adulthood

Latinas in the United States are at a disproportionate risk for STDs and sexual risk behaviors. Among Latinas, acculturation has been found to be one of the most important predictors of these behaviors. Therefore, this study examined the longitudinal association between Latina adolescents’ level of acculturation and multiple sexual risk outcomes, including self-report STD diagnosis, four or more life-time sex partners, regret of sexual initiation after alcohol use, and lack of condom use during young adulthood. Based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study includes a nationally representative sample of 1,073 Latina adolescents (ages 11–20 at Wave 1) transitioning into young adulthood (ages 18–27 at Wave 3). Our findings indicate that more acculturated Latinas who spoke English at home were more likely to have STDs and to exhibit sexual risk behaviors than Latinas who were foreign-born and did not use English at home. Interventions that aim to promote sexual and reproductive health among young Latinas should take into consideration their different levels of acculturation. This approach holds greater potential for reducing health disparities among Latinas.     

Protective and Risk Factors Associated with Adolescent Boys’ Early Sexual Debut and Risky Sexual Behaviors

Protective and risk factors associated with rates of early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors for a sample of low-income adolescent boys were examined using bioecological theory framed by a resiliency perspective. Protective processes examined include a close mother–son and father–son relationship, parental monitoring and family routines, as well as the adolescent boy’s academic achievement, expectations, and school recognition. The risk factors assessed were delinquent behaviors, if the adolescent was born to a teenage mother, family structure, monthly family income, risky neighborhood environments, family of origin welfare receipt, and maternal education. Waves one (1999) and two (2001) of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 528; Wave 1 ages 10–14 years). Associations between early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors with individual, family, school, and neighborhood protective and risk factors were addressed through a series of d-probit and Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression techniques. When protective and risk factors were addressed independently, academic achievement and parental monitoring protected adolescent boys from early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors while drug and alcohol use and school problems placed them at risk for these behaviors. However, when the model is assessed together, early parental monitoring and academic achievement were shown to protect boys’ early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors by reducing their delinquent behaviors, specifically early drug and alcohol use and school problems.

A Multiple Mediational Test of the Relationship Between Childhood Maltreatment and Non-suicidal Self-Injury

Post-traumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, and psychological dysregulation have been shown to mediate the relationship between child maltreatment and non-suicidal self-injury. However, these proposed mediators often co-occur and previous research has not tested mediation when all variables are assessed simultaneously. The current study sought to advance the literature on maltreatment and self-injury by estimating the mediational effects of post-traumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, and psychological dysregulation in the same multiple mediator model. Both maltreated (n = 129) and non-maltreated (n = 82) adolescent females, consisting of Caucasian (55%), African-American (37%), and Bi-racial (8%) backgrounds, participated in the study. Results indicated that only post-traumatic stress symptoms mediated the relationship between maltreatment and self-injury when all variables were included in the model. Overall, post-traumatic symptoms represented a unique pathway from maltreatment to self-injury and warrant special attention when assessing and treating such behavior with adolescent females.     

Examining the Influence of Family Environments on Youth Violence: A Comparison of Mexican,Puerto Rican,Cuban, Non-Latino Black,and Non-Latino White Adolescents

Existing research rarely considers important ethnic subgroup variations in violent behaviors among Latino youth. Thus, their risk for severe violent behaviors is not well understood in light of the immense ethnic and generational diversity of the Latino population in the United States. Grounded in social control theory and cultural analyses of familism, we examine differences in the risk for severe youth violence, as well its associations with family cohesion, parental engagement, adolescent autonomy, household composition, and immigrant generation among Mexican (n = 1,594), Puerto Rican (n = 586), Cuban (n = 488), and non-Latino Black (n = 4,053), and White (n = 9,921) adolescents with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Results indicate a gradient of risk; White youth had the lowest risk for severe violence and Puerto Rican youth had the highest risk compared to all other racial/ethnic subgroups. Within-group analysis indicates that family factors are not universally protective or risk-inducing. While family cohesion decreased the risk of severe violence among all groups, parental engagement was associated with increased risk among Blacks and Whites, and adolescent autonomy was associated with increased risk among Puerto Ricans and Cubans. In addition, Cuban and White adolescents who lived in single parent households or who did not live with their parents, had higher risk for severe violent behaviors than their counterparts who lived in two parent households. Among Latinos, the association of immigrant generation was in opposite directions among Mexicans and Cubans. We conclude that family and immigration factors differentially influence risk for violence among Latino subgroups and highlight the significance of examining subgroup differences and developing intervention strategies that are tailored to the needs of each ethnic subgroup.     

Increased Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior Among Migratory Homeless Youth: Exploring the Role of Social Network Composition

Travelers are a migratory subgroup of homeless youth who may be especially prone to engaging in risky behavior. This study compared the substance use and sexual behavior of young homeless travelers and non-travelers to evaluate the extent and possible sources of travelers’ increased risk. Data came from face-to-face interviews with 419 homeless youth (36.6% female, 34.0% white, 23.9% African American, and 20.0% Hispanic) between the ages of 13 and 24 years (M = 20.1 years, SD = 2.5) who were randomly sampled from 41 shelters, drop-in centers, and street sites in Los Angeles. Travelers were almost twice as likely as non-travelers to exhibit recent heavy drinking, 37% more likely to exhibit recent marijuana use, and five times as likely to have injected drugs. Travelers also had more recent sex partners and were more likely to report having casual or need-based sexual partners and combining sex with substance use. Mediation analyses suggest that travelers’ deviant peer associations and disconnection to conventional individuals and institutions may drive their elevated substance use. Differences in sexual risk behaviors are likely attributable to demographic differences between the two groups. Overall, these differences between travelers and non-travelers suggest different service needs and the need for different service approaches.     

Going Through the Rites of Passage: Timing and Transition of Menarche,Childhood Sexual Abuse,and Anxiety Symptoms in Girls

Menarche is a discrete, transitional event that holds considerable personal, social, biological, and developmental significance. The present longitudinal study examined both the transition and timing of menarche on the trajectory of anxiety in girls with histories of childhood maltreatment (N = 93; 63% European American, 14% multiracial, 10% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% Native American). We hypothesized that because menarche is a novel, unfamiliar experience, girls would show greater anxiety around the time of menarche. The anxiety-provoking nature of menarche may be accentuated among earlier-maturing girls and girls with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results indicated that earlier-maturing girls were more anxious in the pre- and peri-menarche periods than their later-maturing peers; however, their anxiety declined after menarche. Childhood sexual abuse was associated with heightened anxiety throughout this transition. The developmental significance of the timing and transition of menarche in relation to childhood sexual abuse and anxiety is discussed.     

Rural and Non-Rural African American Youth: Does Context Matter in the Etiology of Problem Behaviors?

The current study provides new information on the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors in African American youth by testing the importance of known predictors, namely parenting measures (monitoring, support, and communication), peers, and neighborhood characteristics across rural and non-rural developmental contexts. More specifically, the study examined whether rural versus non-rural developmental contexts moderated the relationships between known predictors and a variety of problem behaviors (alcohol use, drug use, delinquency, and violence). Data were collected from N = 687 rural and N = 182 non-rural African American adolescents (mean age = 15.8 years). Findings indicate that both parenting constructs and peer deviance had significant effects on problem behaviors and that these effects were consistent across rural and non-rural developmental contexts. The study results are discussed in terms of their implications for ecological frameworks for testing problem behavior etiology.

Maternal Predictors of Noncoital Sexual Behavior: Examining a Nationally Representative Sample of Asian and White American Adolescents Who Have Never had Sex

Current research in adolescent sexuality has largely focused on vaginal-penile intercourse, with less attention to noncoital sexual activity. This study examined how maternal factors influence the transition from virginity to noncoital behavior among White and Asian American youth who have never experienced vaginal intercourse. We conducted logistic regression analyses to examine whether traditional maternal predictors of coital sex were important in understanding noncoital sexual activity of these two populations. Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were utilized. For White Americans (n = 3,926), direct and indirect maternal factors were associated with noncoital sexual involvement: maternal support, control, mother–child communication about sex, and adolescents’ perceptions of maternal approval of sex. In contrast, only maternal support was associated with the onset of noncoital sexual behavior for Asian Americans (n = 611). The study underscores the need to explore culturally specific factors that may influence Asian American adolescent noncoital sexual behaviors.

The Role of Deliberative Decision Making,Parenting, and Friends in Adolescent Risk Behaviors

Adolescents may engage in risk behaviors that jeopardize their futures. Although adolescent risk-taking has long been attributed to faulty decision making, surprisingly little research has directly examined this link. This study examined the role of deliberative decision making (the tendency to consider options and consequences before making a decision) and social contextual variables (parenting and friend influences) in alcohol and drug use, risky sex, and delinquency. Participants were 7,748 adolescents (50% female) in grades 7–11 from the Add Health dataset (M age = 14.87, SD = 1.54). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that deliberative decision making and contextual variables were associated with risk behavior concurrently and 1 year later. Furthermore, deliberative decision making interacted with social contextual variables in some models, indicating that deliberative decision making may be especially important in certain contexts. These findings suggest that both cognitive and social factors need to be considered to explain adolescents’ decisions to engage in risk behavior.     

Reciprocal Effects between the Perceived Environment and Heterosexual Intercourse Among Adolescents

This study proposes a transactional model for the reciprocal relationship between increased likelihood of adolescent sexual intercourse and decreased connection with the perceived environment. Connection with the perceived environment is operationalized as higher problem-focused interactions with parents, lower religious attendance, and lower school belonging. Relationship with the perceived environment is further hypothesized to explain the increase in depressive symptoms associated with initiating sexual intercourse in adolescence. Data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (one year apart; valid N=10,873) were analyzed using survey-adjusted multiple and logistic regression and path analysis. Hypothesized relationships were confirmed, with an additional finding that relationships with the perceived environment do not improve with the cessation of sexual intercourse. Implications of a possible explanation for this, that this finding indicates sexually active youth earn a stigmatized “non-virgin” label that they cannot easily remove, are discussed.Assistant Professor at the Adelphi University School of Social Work. He received his Ph.D. in 2005 from Cornell University in Human Development and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research program sponsored by Medical and Health Association of New York City, Inc. (MHRA) and the National Development and Research Institutes (NDRI) with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5T32 DA07233). His major research interests include psychological and social determinants of adolescent and young adult health and risk behaviors, religion as a context of youth development, positive development of sexuality and avoidance of sexual risk behaviors in youth, and young adults, and sexual minority youths’ issues with religion.     

Pubertal Timing and Early Sexual Intercourse in the Offspring of Teenage Mothers

Early puberty is associated with stressful family environments, early sexual intercourse, and teenage pregnancy. We examined pubertal timing and sexual debut among the 14-year-old offspring of teenage mothers. Mothers (71% Black, 29% White) were recruited as pregnant teenagers (12–18 years old). Data were collected during pregnancy and when offspring were 6, 10 and 14 years old (n = 318). Adolescents (50% male) compared the timing of their pubertal maturation to same-sex peers. There was a significant 3-way interaction effect of race, sex, and pubertal timing on sexual debut (n = 305). This effect remained significant in a model controlling for maternal age at first intercourse, substance use, exposure to trauma, authoritative parenting, and peer sexual activity (n = 255). Early maturation was associated with early sex in daughters, and may be one pathway for the inter-generational transfer of risk for teenage pregnancy among daughters of teenage mothers.     

“I Got Your Back”: Friends’ Understandings Regarding College Student Spring Break Behavior

Behaviors that pose threats to safety and health, including binge drinking and unprotected sex, increase during a week-long break from university. Understandings with peers regarding these behaviors may be important for predicting behavior and related harms. College students (N = 651; 48% men) reported having understandings with their friends regarding alcohol use (59%) and sexual behavior (45%) during Spring Break. These understandings were to engage in behaviors characterized by risk (e.g., get drunk [23.5%], have sex with someone new [5.2%]) and protection (e.g., drink without getting drunk [17.8%], use condoms [15.8%]). After controlling for previous semester behavior and going on a Spring Break trip, Get Drunk Understandings predicted a greater likelihood of binge drinking and alcohol-related consequences; No/Safe Sex Understandings predicted condom use; and Sex Understandings predicted not using condoms. Understandings with friends regarding Spring Break behavior may be important proximal predictors of risk behaviors and represent potential targets for event-specific prevention.     

Trajectories of HIV Risk Behavior from Age 15 to 25 in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Sample

This study utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate youth risk trajectories for HIV and factors associated with different trajectories. The sample (N = 8,208) was 49.2% female, with a mean age of 14.31 (SD = 1.48). A group-based trajectory model was applied, which identified four distinct trajectories for both males and females: (1) consistently higher sexual risk levels, increasing to early adulthood followed by some decrease (“high”); (2) a short period of increase to late teens, followed by a longer period of decrease (“decreased”); (3) an initially slow increase, with the increase accelerating by late teens, and a slight decline beginning in early adulthood (“increased”); and (4) consistently lowest levels of sexual risk (“low”). More African Americans were found among the decreased trajectory group; among the low risk group a higher number of youth came from families with parents who spoke a language other than English. The high-risk group had a higher percentage of subjects in non-metropolitan areas and highest alcohol use. Among males, being employed and being in the military were associated with inclusion in the high-risk group. Results have implications for specializing prevention strategies for youth with different patterns of sexual risk.

Adolescent Risk Behavior Subgroups: An Empirical Assessment

Theories and prior research have outlined a constellation of adolescent risk behaviors that tend to co-occur, reflecting a general pattern. Although their generality has largely been supported, there is some question about how to best study and portray the relationship among these behaviors. This study used data from a survey administered to high school youth (n = 2549, 38 schools). The general population sample comprised an even split between boys and girls, averaged roughly 16 years of age, and was 59% White and 10% Hispanic/Latino. Using latent class analysis, four subgroups, comprised of varying types and degrees of risky behavior, were identified. Specifically, there were two groups that “abstained” and “experimented” with risky behaviors and two others that had higher, but somewhat distinct, patterns of such activities. These groups were then examined in relation to youth characteristics (e.g., mental and physical health, school performance) and socio-environmental factors (e.g., social support, parental monitoring) that may be useful for better understanding “problem behavior syndrome” and development of prevention strategy.     

Adolescent Sexual Timetables

Young people's age expectations for the Initiation by boys and girls of a range of sexual practices were elicited from a sample of 522 15- and 16-year-olds. As expected, there was a progression in the modal ages nominated from the least intimate (kissing) to more intimate behaviors (sexual intercourse). There were few gender differences, either for age expectations of the practices of boys and girls or between male and female respondents. There was a strong relationship between sexual timetables and timetables for autonomy and use of common drugs such as alcohol, and several marker sexual behaviors were identified that may signify the appropriateness of a range of sexual practices, It is suggested that there is a group of young people whose desire for early autonomy, substance use, and belief in early sexual activity may put them at risk.     

Religiosity and Alcohol Use in Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Youth and Young Adults

Despite interest in the role of religiosity in youth development and health behavior, few studies have examined these associations in sexual minority youth. Participants (n = 11,699) who were adolescents (wave 1) and young adults (wave 3) in the Add Health survey were used to examine proximal and distal religiosity by sexual identity group and to test group differences in associations between religiosity and alcohol use. Sexual minorities were less likely than heterosexuals to report a current religious affiliation. In young adulthood, heterosexual females reported significantly higher distal and proximal religiosity than heterosexual males and sexual minority young adults. From adolescence to young adulthood, religiosity in all three sexual identity groups (heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian) significantly declined, with the largest effects found for the sexual minority groups. Distal and proximal religiosity scores were significantly associated with less alcohol use and less binge drinking among heterosexuals, but not among sexual minorities. Future studies of sexual minority youth and their religious contexts are suggested.

The Longitudinal Relationships Between Rural Adolescents’ Prosocial Behaviors and Young Adult Substance Use

While many adolescents and young adults experiment with substances (e.g., alcohol, cigarette smoking, marijuana), recent research suggests that rural youth and young adults may be more at risk for substance use than their urban counterparts. This study was designed to examine the longitudinal relationships between rural adolescents’ prosocial behaviors and substance use in young adulthood. Furthermore, we examined the potential mediating effects of adolescent substance use, academic investment, and delinquency. Rural youth (N = 531; 263 girls) were surveyed in grades 10–12 (Time 1; M age = 16.17; SD = .91) and again in early adulthood (Time 2). Measures of prosocial behaviors, substance use, academic investment, and deviant activities were assessed at Time 1. At Time 2, measures of marijuana use, cigarette smoking, and getting drunk were administered. Overall, the findings showed that rural adolescents who frequently exhibit prosocial behaviors are less likely to engage in substance use in young adulthood than those who exhibit relatively low levels of prosocial behaviors. These findings indicate that prosocial behaviors may have positive health consequences, establishing behavioral trajectories that lead to lower levels of risky health behaviors in adulthood in rural populations.