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.     

The Nature and Predictors of Sexual Victimization and Offending Among Adolescents

This study describes the risk factors associated with experiencing and committing sexual aggression among a sample of male and female adolescents. High school students completed a questionnaire containing a revised form of the Sexual Experiences Survey to assess sexual victimization and offending experiences. Ordinal regression equations were estimated separately for male and female students, regressing background characteristics, dating behaviors, and attitudinal scales on sexual victimization (for females) or offending (for males). Nearly half (48%) of the females report experiencing sexual aggression, and one-third (34%) of males admit committing this type of offending. Regression analyses show that the likelihood of reporting victimization/offending increases among females who report dating more frequently during the past month, among both males and females who report dating more different people during the past 6 months, and among older males. Females who report their religious affiliation as Protestants compared to those with no religious affiliation, and those planning to attend college are less likely to report victimization. Among the males, rejecting rape stereotypes and having more accurate legal knowledge regarding rape are related to reduced likelihoods of reporting sexual offending. Implications for improving sexual assault educational programs for adolescents are discussed.     

An assessment of sexual health risk behaviors among female youth in juvenile detention

This study investigated the association between risky sexual behavior and drug use among female youth sentenced to a regional juvenile detention center. Preincarceration behavioral health risk data were collected from a modified version of the Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance Survey completed by respondents. Almost all of the 105 participants had been detained before their current sentence, more than half of them were sexually active before the age of 13, and 70% had smoked marijuana or drank alcohol by age 14. A regression analysis was conducted to determine if preincarceration sexual health risk behaviors were significant enough to predict continued risk behaviors related to pregnancy, disease prevention, and substance use. Findings indicate that youth detention-based prevention programs should emphasize sexual and drug-risk reduction strategies as a means to reduce risky behaviors for this population.     

Who Are Truant Youth? Examining Distinctive Profiles of Truant Youth Using Latent Profile Analysis

The present study explored the heterogeneity of truant youth to provide a more nuanced examination of the nature of adolescent truancy and examine distinct profiles of truant youth as they relate to externalizing behaviors. Latent profile analysis was employed to examine the heterogeneity of truant youth by using a nationally representative sample of 1,646 truant adolescents (49.8?% female) from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Five key indicator variables were utilized to identify latent classes: school engagement, participation in school-based activities, grades, parental academic involvement, and number of school days skipped. Additionally, multinomial regression was employed to examine the relationship between latent truant youth classes and externalizing behaviors. Four classes of truant youth were identified: achievers (28.55?%), moderate students (24.30?%), academically disengaged (40.89?%), and chronic skippers (6.26?%). Additionally, group membership was found to be associated differentially with marijuana use, fighting, theft and selling drugs. Results from the present study suggest that truant youth are not a homogenous group, but rather present with different risk profiles as they relate to key indicators, demographic characteristics and externalizing behaviors. Implications for practice, policy and future research are discussed.     

Are Family Meals as Good for Youth as We Think They Are? A Review of the Literature on Family Meals as They Pertain to Adolescent Risk Prevention

Regular family meals have been shown to reduce adolescents’ engagement in various risk behaviors. In this article, we comprehensively examine the literature to review the association between family meals and eight adolescent risk outcomes: alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs; aggressive and/or violent behaviors; poor school performance; sexual behavior; mental health problems; and disordered eating patterns. The majority of the studies reviewed found associations in the relationship between family meals and adolescents’ risk profiles. More specifically, studies reporting significant associations found that adolescents who frequently ate meals with their family and/or parents were less likely to engage in risk behaviors when compared to peers who never or rarely ate meals with their families. Additionally, the influence of family meal frequency on youth risk outcomes appears to be dependent on gender, with family meals being a protective factor for females and males differently, depending on the outcome examined. However, the studies available about family meals and adolescent risk only examined the effect of family meal frequency, and not other components of family meals that contribute to the protective effect, and, thus, hinder the understanding of the mechanisms unique to family meals’ protective characteristics. Regardless of these limitations, the studies examined indicate that family meals may be protective and, therefore, have practical implications for parents, clinicians, and organizations looking to reduce adolescent risk behaviors. However, further examination is needed to better understand the mechanisms that contribute to the protective effect afforded by family meal frequency on adolescents.     

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.     

The Influence of Pubertal Timing on Alcohol Use and Heavy Drinking Trajectories

Early pubertal timing has been associated with increased alcohol use, drunkenness, and alcohol use disorders in both boys and girls during adolescence. It is not clear, however, whether the effect of early pubertal timing persists into late adolescence and young adulthood, whether its effect differs by gender, and if contextual factors (e.g., peer alcohol use) amplify such effect. This study attempts to address these questions by examining the trajectories of alcohol use and heavy drinking from early adolescence to young adulthood in males and females using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results show that for both males and females, early pubertal timing was associated with higher alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories. These effects persisted into young adulthood and were found to be stronger for males than for females. Moreover, there was a significant interaction effect between friends’ drinking and pubertal timing on alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories; but the interaction effect also differed for males and females. These findings suggest that early pubertal timing is a risk factor for alcohol use and has long-term implication for individuals’ health. Michael Biehl’s research focuses on adolescent development and problem behaviors. He is particularly interested in developmental pathways leading to substance use and affective disorders and how different contexts influence these developmental pathways. Misaki Natsuaki is interested in how adolescent problem behavior changes over time. Her research focuses particularly on the effects and timing of transitional events, such as puberty, on trajectories of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence. Xiaojia Ge’s research focuses on interaction effects of biological and social contextual factors on socioemotional development. He is particularly interested in how pubertal timing affects adolescent development.     

Profiles of Problematic Behaviors Across Adolescence: Covariations with Indicators of Positive Youth Development

Previous analyses of data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD) have examined concurrent trajectories of positive development and risk/problem behaviors among adolescents, finding complex and not necessarily inverse relationships among them. In this article, we expand on prior research by employing a person-centered approach to modeling risk behaviors, assessing development from approximately 6th grade through 12th grade among 4,391 adolescents (59.9 % female). Latent profiles involving the problematic behaviors of delinquency, depressive symptoms, substance use, sexual activity, disordered eating behaviors, and bullying were then assessed for concurrent relationships with the Five Cs of PYD: Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring, and Connection. We found six latent profiles, based primarily on mental health, aggression, and alcohol use, with significant differences in Confidence levels among many of the profiles, as well as some differences in the four other Cs. We discuss directions for future research and implications for application to youth policies and programs.     

Do Substance Use Risk Personality Dimensions Predict the Onset of Substance Use in Early Adolescence? A Variable- and Person-Centered Approach

Various studies found personality to be related to substance use, but little attention is paid to the role of personality risk dimensions with regard to an early onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Therefore, the current study used a variable-centered approach to examine whether anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, sensation seeking, and impulsivity predict the onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in early adolescence. Additionally, we adopted a person-centered approach to examine whether different personality subgroups could be identified, and whether these subgroups would be predictive of substance use. For that purpose, longitudinal data of a broader effectiveness study were used from 758 early adolescents (53?% female) aged 11–14?years. Structural equation models showed that hopelessness and sensation seeking were predictive of having ever used alcohol and tobacco. Also, sensation seeking was predictive of marijuana use. Latent profile analyses on the first wave data revealed a three-profile solution for boys (i.e., resilients, internalizers, and externalizers) and a two-profile solution for girls (i.e., resilients and internalizers). In contrast to our expectation, further analyses revealed no significant differences in substance use between the different subprofiles for both boys and girls. The separate personality dimensions thus seem more relevant in predicting the onset of substance use compared to the personality profiles. However, the personality profiles might be informative in explaining more excessive substance use behaviors.     

Adolescent Female Athletes' Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1993 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) of a sample of U.S. female adolescents (N = 7839) were compared to a cohort of 9th through 12th grade high performance female athletes (N = 141) with regard to risk-taking behavior on eight items related to sexual activity (i.e., ever engaged in sexual intercourse, age of first sexual intercourse, number of lifetime sexual partners, current sexual activity, condom use, use of the birth control pill, contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and incidence of alcohol or drug use prior to last sexual activity). Chi-square analyses (p < .05) showed that with the exception of alcohol or drug use prior to last sexual activity, and use of birth control pills, the six other risk-taking behaviors were significantly different between the U.S. female sample and the female athletes. In all instances, except for contracting an STD, U.S. females reported engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors more frequently than the high performance athletes, and furthermore, were more likely to be sexually active than the high performance athletes (50% vs. 21%). Among the high performance athletes, only lifetime sexual activity showed significant difference by grade, with sophomores and seniors reporting more frequent involvement in sexual activity. These findings suggest that participation in a high performance sports activity is positively associated with some reduced sexual risk-taking behaviors for adolescent females.     

Perceived vs. actual friends' use of alcohol,cigarettes, marijuana,and cocaine: Which has the most influence?

Determinants of the use of alcohol, alcohol without parental knowledge, cigarettes, marijuana, and crack were assessed in predominantly black, urban, fourth- and fifth-grade students. Each subject identified three best friends. Logistic and least-square regression analyses indicated that children's perceptions of friends' use, perceptions of family use, and actual use of classmates were better predictors of substance use than friends' actual use. The pattern of predictors suggested that peer behaviors and attitudes are more influential for children's socially censured behaviors such as using alcohol without parental permission than for more socially approved behaviors such as using alcohol with parental permission. The importance of perceived friends' use vs. friends' actual use supports Behavioral Intention Theory and Cognitive Developmental Theory, while the importance of classroom use supports Social Learning Theory or may reflect social and environmental conditions including neighborhood availability of drugs and neighborhood values regarding substance use.This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (RO1 DA 04497). Portions were presented at a NIDA Technical Review Meeting, Washington, DC, September 1989, and at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Chicago, October 1989.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from The State University of New York at Buffalo. His research interests include social and environmental influences on the early use of abusable substances; the development of children's eating and exercise patterns, and their relationship to cardiovascular risk factors; and the development of understanding of and attitudes toward health and illness, including heart disease and AIDS.Received Ph.D. in social pharmacy from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include personal, social, and environmental influences on the use of medicines and abusable substances; and children's health promotion and disease prevention.     

Comparison of HIV Risks among Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual and Heterosexual Homeless Youth

Youth who are homeless and gay, lesbian or bisexual (GLB) are one of the most disenfranchised and marginalized groups in our society. The purpose of this study is to examine and compare HIV in GLB homeless youth with their heterosexual counterparts. Participants for this study included 268 youth involved in treatment outcome studies with substance abusing homeless youth. Results suggest that GLB youth have greater HIV risks and that these risks are greater among bisexual females. In examining the predictors of sexual health risks, survival sex emerged as the most significant. Survival sex was high among females regardless of their sexual orientation and also among gay males. Implications of these findings suggest that a greater emphasis needs to be paid to preventive interventions among this population. Rashmi Gangamma is a Ph.D student in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at The Ohio State University. She completed her Masters in Social Work at Mangalore University, India, and M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work from the National Institute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India. Her research interests include qualitative research methodology, family therapy process and GLBT issues. Natasha Slesnick, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Science at the Ohio State University. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of New Mexico. Her research and clinical focus is on families and adolescents with issues pertaining to homelessness, substance use, childhood abuse, depression and high risk behaviors. Her current research projects concentrate on the development and evaluation of effective interventions for runaway and homeless youth and their families. Paula Toviessi is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at The Ohio State University. She completed her B.S. in Psychology at Norfolk State University and her M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy at Purdue University, Calumet. She is currently conducting research on family health and the health decision-making process. Julianne Serovich, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University. She received her Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of Georgia. Her primary program of research centers on investigating the role of HIV disclosure to family and friends in reducing sexual risk related behaviors in men and mental health outcomes in women. To this end she has conducted 3 major studies investigating HIV disclosure behaviors in gay males, and heterosexual males and females.     

Religiosity Profiles of American Youth in Relation to Substance Use, Violence, and Delinquency

Relatively little is known in terms of the relationship between religiosity profiles and adolescents’ involvement in substance use, violence, and delinquency. Using a diverse sample of 17,705 (49?% female) adolescents from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, latent profile analysis and multinomial regression are employed to examine the relationships between latent religiosity classes and substance use, violence, and delinquency. Results revealed a five class solution. Classes were identified as religiously disengaged (10.76?%), religiously infrequent (23.59?%), privately religious (6.55?%), religious regulars (40.85?%), and religiously devoted (18.25?%). Membership in the religiously devoted class was associated with the decreased likelihood of participation in a variety of substance use behaviors as well as decreases in the likelihood of fighting and theft. To a lesser extent, membership in the religious regulars class was also associated with the decreased likelihood of substance use and fighting. However, membership in the religiously infrequent and privately religious classes was only associated with the decreased likelihood of marijuana use. Findings suggest that private religiosity alone does not serve to buffer youth effectively against involvement in problem behavior, but rather that it is the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic adolescent religiosity factors that is associated with participation in fewer problem behaviors.     

Different Kinds of Lonely: Dimensions of Isolation and Substance Use in Adolescence

Social isolation is broadly associated with poor mental health and risky behaviors in adolescence, a time when peers are critical for healthy development. However, expectations for isolates’ substance use remain unclear. Isolation in adolescence may signal deviant attitudes or spur self-medication, resulting in higher substance use. Conversely, isolates may lack access to substances, leading to lower use. Although treated as a homogeneous social condition for teens in much research, isolation represents a multifaceted experience with structurally distinct network components that present different risks for substance use. This study decomposes isolation into conceptually distinct dimensions that are then interacted to create a systematic typology of isolation subtypes representing different positions in the social space of the school. Each isolated position’s association with cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use is tested among 9^th grade students (n?=?10,310, 59% female, 83% white) using cross-sectional data from the PROSPER study. Different dimensions of isolation relate to substance use in distinct ways: unliked isolation is associated with lower alcohol use, whereas disengagement and outside orientation are linked to higher use of all three substances. Specifically, disengagement presents risks for cigarette and marijuana use among boys, and outside orientation is associated with cigarette use for girls. Overall, the adolescents disengaged from their school network who also identify close friends outside their grade are at greatest risk for substance use. This study indicates the importance of considering the distinct social positions of isolation to understand risks for both substance use and social isolation in adolescence.     

Gender-Specific Relationships Between Depressive Symptoms, Marijuana Use, Parental Communication and Risky Sexual Behavior in Adolescence

A large body of research has identified correlates of risky sexual behavior, with depressive symptoms and marijuana use among the most consistent psychosocial predictors of sexual risk. However, substantially less research has examined the relationship between these risk variables and adolescent risky sexual behavior over time as well as the interaction of these individual-level predictors with family-level variables such as parenting factors. Additionally, most studies have been restricted to one index of risky sexual behavior, have not taken into account the complex role of gender, and have not controlled for several of the factors that independently confer risk for risky sexual behavior. Therefore, the current study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and parameters of parenting on marijuana use, number of sexual partners and condom usage measured 9 months later for both boys and girls. Participants were 9th and 10th grade adolescents (N = 1,145; 57.7 % female). We found that depressive symptoms may be a gender-specific risk factor for certain indices of risky sexual behavior. For boys only, marijuana use at Time 2 accounted for the variance in the relationship between depressive symptoms at Time 1 and number of partners at Time 2. Additionally, strictness of family rules at Time 1 was associated with the number of partners with whom girls engaged in sex at Time 2, but only among those with lower levels of depressive symptoms at Time 1. Results from the current investigation speak to the utility of examining the complex, gender-specific pathways to sexual risk in adolescents. Findings suggest that treatment of mental health and substance use problems may have important implications in rates of risky sexual behavior and, conceivably, controlling the high rates of serious individual and public health repercussions.     

Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Alcohol,Cigarette, and Marijuana Use During Adolescence

The purpose of this study was to increase the knowledge base of adolescent substance use by examining the influences of risk and protective factors for specific substance use, namely alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. Participants included 271 adolescents and their primary caregivers referred for mental health services across North Carolina. A series of hierarchical multiple regressions showed that the relative influences of risk and protective factors differed depending on the target substance in some cases. History of parental felony predicted use of all 3 substances, although the direction of association was substance specific. Parental behavioral control (how families express and maintain standards of behavior) was predictive only of cigarette and marijuana use, not alcohol use. The different links among risk factors, protective factors, and specific substance use are discussed, and recommendations for both mental health and substance use professionals are offered.She received her M.A. in Psychology from Wake Forest University and is currently a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her major research interests include developmental pathways to aggressive behavior among females.An evaluator for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, her major research interests include system of care intervention programming.She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University. Her major research interests include developmental psychopathology and early intervention.His research interests focus on youth violence and youth involved with the juvenile justice system.She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research interests focus on early intervention with young children.     

Linking Family Economic Pressure and Supportive Parenting to Adolescent Health Behaviors: Two Developmental Pathways Leading to Health Promoting and Health Risk Behaviors

Adolescent health behaviors, especially health risk behaviors, have previously been linked to distal (i.e., family economic pressure) and proximal (i.e., parental support) contributors. However, few studies have examined both types of contributors along with considering health promoting and health risk behaviors separately. The present study investigated the influences of family economic hardship, supportive parenting as conceptualized by self-determination theory, and individual psychosocial and behavioral characteristics (i.e., mastery and delinquency, respectively) on adolescents’ health promoting and health risk behaviors. We used structural equation modeling to analyze longitudinal data from a sample of Caucasian adolescent children and their mothers and fathers (N = 407, 54 % female) to examine direct and indirect effects, as well as gender symmetry and asymmetry. Findings suggest that family economic pressure contributed to adolescent mastery and delinquency through supportive parenting. Further, supportive parenting indirectly affected adolescent health risk behaviors only through delinquency, whereas supportive parenting indirectly influenced health promoting behaviors only through mastery, suggesting different developmental pathways for adolescent health risk and health promoting behaviors. Testing for gender symmetry of the full model showed that maternal and paternal parenting contributed to females’ health risk behaviors directly, while maternal and paternal parenting contributed to males’ health risk behaviors through delinquency. Gender symmetry was largely unsupported. The study highlights key direct and indirect pathways to adolescent health risk and health promoting behaviors within a family stress model and self-determination theory framework, and also highlights important gender differences in these developmental pathways.     

Gender differences associated with young people's emotional reactions to sexual intercourse

The differences between male and female adolescents' emotional reactions to their most recent occasion of sexual intercourse were examined. The sample included 932 sexually active Australian secondary school students who completed a self-report questionnaire concerning their sexual behavior. The majority of young people reported that they felt happy or good following their most recent occasion of sex. Females were more likely than males to report negative emotions such as feeling bad and used, but there was no difference between the percentage of males and the percentage of females who reported feeling guilty. Girls were more likely to feel bad, used, or guilty last time if they were drunk/high or had sex with someone who was not a steady partner. Boys who had sex with someone other than a steady partner last time were more likely to feel guilty. Peer and parental influences were also associated with feelings of guilt. Girls who were more confident that they could talk to one of their parents/guardians about sex, and boys who believed that most of their peers were sexually active, were less likely to have felt guilty.Received B.A. (Hons) from University of Queensland. Research interests include adolescents mental and sexual health.Received B.A.(Hons) from University of Queensland. Interested in the areas of sex roles and sexual behavior among adolescents.Received Ph.D. from Murdoch University. Research interests include population studies of sexual behavior and mental health.Received M.B.B.S., M.D. from University of Sydney. Research interests include adolescent health, psychological response in disasters, coping with grief and loss and living with HIV/AIDS.     

Prevalence and Predictors of Sexual Risks Among Homeless Youth

This study examined prevalence of sexual risks among homeless adolescents and described factors associated with those risks. Community-based outreach methods were used successfully to access this difficult-to-reach population. The sample included 203 homeless youth aged 15–22 recruited from community sites. Questionnaire items addressed demographics, sexual behaviors, alcohol/drug use, STI history and testing, and pregnancy history. In cross-sectional analysis, 58.7% of males and 75.6% of females reported recent sexual intercourse. Of those, one third of males and half of the females used no barrier method with at least one partner. Both gender (female) and race/ethnicity (non-Black) were associated with having intercourse without a barrier contraceptive method. Over one fifth reported a history of survival sex or receiving money, drugs, clothing, shelter, or food for sex. These results show disturbingly high rates of a number of sexual risks, reinforcing the need for targeted interventions with this highly vulnerable population.