Pathways to Sexual Risk Taking Among Female Adolescent Detainees

Sexual risk taking among female delinquents represents a significant public health problem. Research is needed to understand the pathways leading to sexual risk taking among this population. This study sought to address this issue by identifying and testing two pathways from child maltreatment to non-condom use among 329 White and 484 African American female adolescent detainees: a relational pathway and a substance use coping pathway. The relational pathway indicated that child maltreatment would be related to non-condom use via depressive self-concept and condom use self-efficacy. The substance use coping pathway suggested that depressive self-concept and alcohol-based expectancies for sexual enhancement would mediate the relationship between child maltreatment and non-condom use. As hypothesized, the relational pathway variables were associated with one another in the expected directions; however, evidence of mediation was not found. Support for mediation was found for the substance use coping pathway. Exploratory across group comparison analysis indicated that the relational pathway was significant for White girls whereas the substance use coping pathway was significant for African American girls. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

Friends: The Role of Peer Influence Across Adolescent Risk Behaviors

This longitudinal project examined peer influence across five risk behaviors: cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, marijuana use, tobacco chewing, and sexual debut. A total of 1,969 adolescents aged 12–18 years completed two waves of data collection. Each respondent matched behavior data for at least one friend. Results found that a random same sex peer predicts a teen's risk behavior initiation; there is influence only to initiate cigarette and marijuana use; and that there is influence to initiate and stop alcohol and chewing tobacco use. This finding suggests that friends may protect adolescents from risk activities. The study has implications for understanding how peer influence, expressed as social norms, may be used in public health campaigns that target teen behavior.     

Adolescent Problem Behavior and Depressed Mood: Risk and Protection Within and Across Social Contexts

This study examined risk and protection for adolescent problem behavior and depressive symptomatology in an average-risk sample of 11th graders. Using a socioecological perspective, we aggregated risk factors for adolescent problem behavior and depressed mood by 3 social contexts: i.e., family and peer contexts, and a context comprising the most important nonparental adult (VIP) in respondents' lives. Protective factors associated with these 3 contexts were also included in the analyses. We tested separate models (including outcome-specific risk and protective factors) for predicting problem behaviors and depressive symptoms; the models demonstrated divergent validity. Risk and protective factors accounted for 49% of the variance in problem behavior and 49% in depressive symptoms. Tests of interactions between risk-aggregates and protective factors yielded several significant cross-context buffering effects in the problem behavior model, but none in the depressive symptoms model. Parents' and VIP's perceived sanctions buffered adolescents against high risk for problem behavior emanating from the peer context. Additionally, perceived peers' sanctions buffered youths against risk emanating from each of the 3 contexts.     

Perceived Ethnic Stigma Across the Transition to College

Ethnicity-based negative treatment during the transition to college may affect the long-term adjustment of ethnic-minority youth. We examined within-person changes in youths' perceptions of overt discrimination and their sense of their ethnic group being devalued by the larger society among 563 Latino, European, Asian, and other ethnic minority emerging adults across the transition to college (M (age)?=?17.79, SD?=?.37, 54.7% female). Analyses tested for group and context differences and associations between perceived discrimination and societal devaluation of their group and adjustment. Results indicate that although perceived discrimination decreases over time, perceived devaluation by society increases. Social context did not affect changes in perceived discrimination and societal devaluation. Whereas perceived discrimination was associated with depressive and somatic symptoms for everyone, perceived societal devaluation was only consequential for ethnic minorities. Future research should identify possible moderators to help students cope with experiences of discrimination and feelings of not being valued by society.     

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.

Correction to: Feminist Judgments Projects at the Intersection

Feminist Legal Studies - In the original publication of the article, errors in the production stages resulted in Vanessa Munro being listed as sole author.     

Sibling Relationships and Empathy Across the Transition to Adolescence

Although socioemotional competencies have been identified as key components of youths’ positive development, most studies on empathy are cross-sectional, and research on the role of the family has focused almost exclusively on parental socialization. This study examined the developmental course of empathy from age 7 to 14 and the within-person associations between sibling warmth and conflict and youths’ empathy. On three occasions across 2?years, mothers, fathers, and the two eldest siblings from 201 White, working- and middle-class families provided questionnaire data. Multilevel models revealed that, controlling for youths’ pubertal status and parental education, girls’ empathy increased during the transition to adolescence and then leveled off, but boys’ lower levels of empathy remained relatively unchanged. Moreover, controlling for parental responsiveness and marital love, at times when firstborns and second-borns reported more sibling warmth and less sibling conflict than usual, they also reported more empathy than usual. The within-person association between sibling warmth and empathy also became stronger over time. Findings highlight gender differences in empathy development and the unique role of siblings in shaping each other’s socioemotional characteristics during adolescence.     

Delinquent Girls Grown Up: Young Adult Offending Patterns and Their Relation to Early Legal, Individual, and Family Risk

Although the number of girls served by the juvenile justice system has grown dramatically, little is known about the adult offending patterns of delinquent girls and the factors associated with their persistence and desistance from adult crime. To address this gap, we prospectively track 499 girls (62% Black, 16% Hispanic) discharged from juvenile justice facilities in the early 1990s and document their adult arrests, convictions, and incarcerations between the ages of 16–28. Trajectory analysis reveals four distinct early adult offending paths: Rare/Non-Offending (RN), Low Chronic (LC), Low-Rising (LR), and High Chronic (HC). Girls assigned to the LR and LC path are responsible for a disproportionate amount of adult arrests and are more likely than girls on the RN and LC path to come from homes characterized by high levels of family dysfunction and child maltreatment. Adoption of a therapeutic, trauma-sensitive and family-centered approach to female delinquency programming is recommended.

Changes in Academic Adjustment and Relational Self-worth Across the Transition to Middle School

Moving from elementary to middle school is a time of great transition for many early adolescents. The present study examined students’ academic adjustment and relational self-worth at 6-month intervals for four time points spanning the transition from elementary school to middle school (N = 738 at time 1; 53 % girls; 54 % African American, 46 % European American). Grade point average (G.P.A.), intrinsic value for schoolwork, self-worth around teachers, and self-worth around friends were examined at every time point. The overall developmental trajectory indicated that G.P.A. and intrinsic value for schoolwork declined. The overall decline in G.P.A. was due to changes at the transition and across the first year in middle school. Intrinsic value declined across all time points. Self-worth around teachers was stable. The developmental trends were the same regardless of gender or ethnicity except for self-worth around friends, which was stable for European American students and increased for African American students due to an ascent at the transition into middle school. Implications for the education of early adolescents in middle schools are discussed.     

Early Menarcheal Age and Risk for Later Depressive Symptomatology: The Role of Childhood Depressive Symptoms

Previous research has investigated the relationship between pubertal timing and depression in girls, with most results suggesting that earlier menarche predicts more depression in adolescence. However, few studies have controlled for the potentially confounding effects of childhood depressive symptoms. The current study uses a prospective, longitudinal sample of 1,185 girls (47.8 % Caucasian) to examine the relationships between pubertal timing, childhood depressive symptoms, and adolescent depressive symptomatology. Using multiple linear regression analyses, our results suggest that higher levels of childhood depressive symptoms and earlier menarche have independent effects on adolescent depressive symptoms. Surprisingly, childhood depressive symptomatology predicted later age of menarche, although the magnitude of this effect was small. Taken together, the results suggest that early childhood depressive symptoms and early menarche represent independent pathways to later depressive symptoms.     

Adolescent Victim Types Across the Popularity Status Hierarchy: Differences in Internalizing Symptoms

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Previous studies have called attention to the fact that popular youth are not immune to peer victimization, suggesting there is heterogeneity in the popularity of...     

Resilience in Inner City Youth: Childhood Predictors of Occupational Status Across the Lifespan

The present prospective study has followed a cohort of inner city men from adolescence (14±2) until age 65. While previous studies of shorter duration have identified numerous childhood factors that powerfully influence outcomes in young adulthood, this study examined the effect of these well-documented prognostic factors on occupational status across the lifespan. Consistent with previous studies, childhood environmental protector factors and parental social class predicted occupational status at age 25 significantly, but showed progressively weaker prediction at ages 32, 47 and 65. Timely early childhood development proved over time to be a far more important predictor than childhood social environment in adulthood. Ana C. DiRago is a Psychology Ph.D. student in the Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research area. She is involved with the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Her research interests include resilience and behavioral genetics in mood and anxiety disorders. George E. Vaillant is a Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has spent the last 30 years as Director of the Study of Adult Development charting adult development and the recovery process of schizophrenia, heroin addiction, and alcoholism. George considers Dan Offer a friend and long distance teacher.     

Special Issue Introduction: Thriving Across the Adolescent Years: A View of the Issues

Framed within a relational developmental systems model, the 4-H Study of positive youth development (PYD) explored the bases and implications of thriving across much of the second decade of life. This special issue pertains to information derived from the recently completed eight waves of the 4-H Study of PYD, and presents findings about the relations between individual and contextual variables that are involved in the thriving process. This introduction briefly reviews the historical background and the theoretical frame for the 4-H Study and describes its general methodology. We provide an overview of the articles in this special issue and discuss the ways in which the articles elucidate different facets of the thriving process. In addition, we discuss the implications of this research for future scholarship and for applications aimed at improving the life chances of diverse adolescents.     

Changes in Perceived Social Support and Socioemotional Adjustment Across the Elementary to Junior High School Transition

One of the most fundamental factors related to psychological well being across the lifespan is whether a person perceives social support from important others in his or her life. The current study explored changes in and relationships among perceived social support (SS) and socioemotional adjustment (SEA) across the 1-year transition from elementary to junior high school. Two cohorts of students (N = 140) participated in the current study that took place across a 3-year time span. Analyses of the transition data for boys and girls together reveal declines in perceived total support and teacher support as well as an increase in self-reported school problems. When considering the sexes separately, girls?? perceived total support, close friend support and school support declined while boy??s self-reported school problems increased across the transition. Although social support did not emerge as a mediator or predictor for any of the socioemotional variables in the current study, results reveal that, in general, perceived social support and socioemotional functioning at the end of the last year of elementary school predicts perceived social support and socioemotional functioning at the end of the first year of junior high school. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.