Psychological adjustment of adolescents with myelodysplasia

The psychosocial development of 20 adolescents with congenital paralysis due to myelodysplasia is compared to 20 age- and gender-matched subjects with no physical handicap. On many of the measures the myelodysplasia group showed poorer adjustment and lower self-esteem than the controls. Consistent with hypotheses regarding adjustment during adolescence the paralyzed males did show greater concern on Offer's scales of Body and Self-Image and External Mastery and showed poorer adjustment on his Sexual Attitudes Scale. The paralyzed girls, particularly those 13 years or younger, showed the poorest emotional adjustment with a significant variability in responses on many of the tests. This degree of variability may indicate a lack of integration of self-concepts and is consistent with an emotional immaturity discordant with advanced physiologic maturation of these girls.This study was supported in part by the National Foundation-March of Dimes.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1959. Main interests are adolescent development, personality, and evaluative research.Received her M.D. from the University of Rochester, New York, in 1953 and her pediatrics training at Children's Hospital, Los Angeles. Main interests are comprehensive care of patients with birth defects; research and management of hydrocephalus.Received her M.D. from McGill University in 1968 and her pediatric training at University of Washington, Seattle. Main interest is care of children with handicapping conditions, with emphasis on communication problems of the hearing impaired.     

A cross-cultural comparison of sociopsychological factors in alcohol use among adolescents in Israel,France, and the United States

The correlates of alcohol use by adolescents are compared in three cultures with different prevalences of alcohol use: France, with high prevalence; Israel, with low prevalence; and the United States, in the middle. In all three countries, significant others, parents and peers, are more powerful predictors of alcohol use than are the adolescent's personal attributes, such as attitudes, behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Cross-cultural differences appear in the relative importance of parents and peers and in the structure of influence of parents and peers as role models. Parents are more important role models in Israel than in the other two cultures, while peers are more important in the United States than in France or in Israel.This research was partially supported by Research Grants DA01902, DA00064, and Research Scientist Grant K05-DA00081 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and by the Center for SocioCultural Research on Drug Use, Columbia University.Received Ph.D. from Stanford University. Main interests are mathematical sociology, social stratification, and adolescent substance use.Received Ph.D. from Columbia University. Main interests are adolescent socialization, substance use, and psychiatric epidemiology.     

Female adolescents of alcohol misusers 1: Sexual behaviors

Studies show that children of alcoholics constitute an at-risk population. This study attempted to understand the impact of parental alcohol misuse on sexual behaviors of female adolescents, based on a sample of 1134 teenagers from alcohol misusing parents in Minnesota. Index adolescents were more likely to report having sexual intercourse as well as greater frequency of intercourse, history of pregnancy and greater overall pregnancy risk based on current patterns of sexual behavior and contraceptive utilization. Bivariate analysis revealed that gender of the drinking parent was also associated with the above variables. However, in multivariate assessment of protective and risk factors for adolescent pregnancy in the at-risk sample, maternal vs. paternal vs. both parents drinking was no longer salient. Pregnancy avoidance was associated in the index group with two-parent family structure and higher maternal education, while pregnancy history was associated with a history of physical abuse and perception of high levels of vandalism in the school setting.The study reported in this article did not utilize clinically diagnostic indicators of alcoholism. Hence the authors have deliberately avoided using the word alcoholics when referring to parents of study participants. The terms alcohol misusers and alcohol abusers have been substituted and are used interchangeably.Received Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. Research interests include identifying resilience factors in populations that are considered at risk and the usefulness of these factors in planning social welfare programs.Received Ph.D. from University of Minnesota.Received Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. Research interests include children with chronic illness and disabilities, adolescent sexual decision making and international adolescent health care issues.Received Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. Research focuses on adolescent high-risk behaviors and resiliency, and interested in the translation of social research into social action, programs, and policy.     

Using panel data to examine sex differences in causal relationships among adolescent alcohol use,norms, and peer alcohol use

This paper uses longitudinal data and multiple regression of follow-up data on baseline data to identify direction of causality among adolescent alcohol use, normative structure toward alcohol, and peer alcohol use. Baseline and follow-up data were collected on a random sample of 100 adolescents (54 males). Separate regressions were performed on male and female respondents. Among males, self-drinking and normative structure toward alcohol were found to have a reciprocal relationship over time. No significant relationship was found between self and peer alcohol use over time among males. Among females, close-friend alcohol use was found to be causally prior to self drinking and other-friend drinking level. Normative structure toward alcohol was found unrelated to other variables over time among females.This research has been partially supported by grant #H84 AA 04026 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Joan F. Roberton, principal investigator.He received his Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Social Work. Research interests include effects of peer and family on adolescent deviant behavior, and effects of labeling on referral of adolescents to social service agencies.     

Prevalence and patterns of substance use among early adolescents

Prevalence and patterns of substance use are described for a sample of 105 San Francisco East Bay adolescents (age 14). Data are compared with national statistics on substance use among high school seniors. While alcohol use appeared comparable to the national statistics, tobacco use was less prevalent among this younger western sample. Despite the differences in ages, use of marijuana, cocaine, and hallucinogens was similar to national high school prevalence; use of other harder drugs was more extensive among the older, national sample. Contrary to typical findings, males and females were not found to differ in frequency or extent of substance use; females appeared somewhat more involved in substance use at this early age. Initiation of substance use occurred at early grade levels, suggesting that intervention efforts should begin prior to junior high, perhaps as early as fourth or fifth grade.This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH 16080 to Jack Block and Jeanne H. Block.Received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Main interest is cognitive development and development in adolescence.Received his Ph.D. from Stanford University. Main interest is personality development.     

Sexual risk behavior,knowledge, and condom use among adolescents in juvenile detention

This paper reports on sexual behavior, knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS) and condoms, and condom use among African-American and white incarcerated adolescents in Seattle, Washington. One hundred nineteen adolescents in a juvenile detention facility completed questionnaires that assessed their lifetime and recent sexual behaviors, an objective test of disease and condom knowledge, attitudes and norms regarding condom use with steady and casual partners, prior condom use, and intentions to use condoms. The results indicate that these adolescents are at high risk by a number of indicators: They have a high average number of partners, have unprotected vaginal and anal sex, and many have sex with known or suspected drug users. Their overall knowledge of condoms and sexual transmitted diseases risks is high, but high knowledge is not correlated with positive attitudes; for one attitude measure, high knowledge is significantly correlated with negative attitudes toward condom use. These findings suggest that programs designed solely to increase knowledge are unlikely to effect behavior change.This research presented in this paper was supported by a research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Washington. Research interests are in sexual decision making and attitude-behavior relationships.Received Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Washington. Research interests are in sexual behavior and health.Received Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington. Research interests are in problem behaviors of adolescence.     

Peer vs. parental influence in substance use among hispanic and Anglo children and adolescents

The relative influence of peer and parental influence on youths' use of alcohol and other drugs is explored among 446 Anglo and Hispanic youths, ages 9–17. Current users and abstainers are similar in age and gender. Among both groups, parental influence is more profound than that of peers. However, substance users, compared to abstainers, are more influenced by peers. Level of marijuana use by youths' friends is the most reliable predictor of drug use. Youths having viable relationships with parents are less involved with drugs and less influenced by drug-oriented peers.Funded by a grant (A-003-2) from the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, R. H. Coombs, principal investigator.Research interests include comparative socialization patterns of adolescents and young adults in substance abuse vs. conventional careers.Research interests include domestic violence, child abuse, and substance abuse.Research interests include family interaction patterns, cross-cultural differences, and substance abuse prevention and treatment.     

Hispanic Adolescents and Substance Abuse:

The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of the present state of knowledge about the probIem of substance abuse among Hispanic youth and to identify issues with which researchers, clinicians, administrators, and policy makers will have to deal in the coming decade. To do so, it will focus on five major areas: (1) the limitations of drug-related statistics; (2) demographic characteristics of Hispanics in the United States; (3) a review of the literature on Hispanic adolescent substance abuse; (4) factors inhibiting a comprehensive analysis of the problem, its treatment, and appropriate policies; and (5) issues for the 1980s.     

The use of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in adolescents and young adults

The existence of depression in children and adolescents is well established, but debate remains about the phenomenology of the depressive syndrome in the young. In order to discover possible age differences in rates and etiology, the definition and measurement of depression must be comparable across the ages to be studied. A widely used self-report depression symptom scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale, was administered to convenient (and not necessarily representative) samples of high school and college students. The scores and patterns of responses to the 20 symptom items of the scale were compared with already existing data from junior high school students, from depressed patients, and from a representative community sample of adults and young adults. The results of the analyses suggest that the CES-D Scale is acceptable and reliable in all the groups studied. The scores of the junior high school group may be inflated by an excess of transient symptoms and should be interpreted with caution, but the scale seems to be very suitable for the high school and older groups.     

Why do adolescents use drugs? Age,sex, and user differences

This paper makes four points: (1) There is substantial substance use among adolescents in our large rural southwestern sample. (2) Adolescents explain their drug use with five kinds of reasons (i.e., Belonging, Coping, Pleasure, Creativity, and Aggression). (3) Different reasons for using drugs are related to frequency of substance use. (4) There are age, gender, and user differences in the reasons adolescents have for their drug use. After summarizing traditional ways of thinking about drug use, we describe an alternative way for examining such behavior. We use this approach to study relationships between drug use reasons and age, gender, and substance use in 2637 6th–12th-grade students. We then discuss prevention and treatment implications of this research.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include school dropouts, substance use, delinqueccy, personal commitments, health, and identity.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include at-risk youth, substance use, delinquency, narcissism, and identity.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include moral development and personality.     

Beeping children and adolescents: A method for studying time use and daily experience

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) among preadolescents and young adolescents by examining its implementation in a study of 483 5th–9th graders. Four specific methodological questions are addressed: (1) How adequate is the sampling of adolescents? (2) How adequate is the sampling of adolescents' experiences? (3) Does the method alter the phenomenon it attempts to measure? (4) How valid are the data obtained? Methodological information collected as part of the study suggests that the data obtained by the ESM accurately represents most of the experience of most of the individuals in the sample population.     

Substance use by hispanic and white non-hispanic pregnant adolescents: A preliminary survey

White non-Hispanic and Hispanic adolescents aged 17 years and under n= 81) who delivered in San Jose, California area hospitals during a 6-week period were interviewed within 24 hours concerning their use of cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol during pregnancy, and a number of background, social support, and psychosocial factors. Before 12–16 weeks of pregnancy, each of the substances studied was used by over 50% of this population, with 53% smoking cigarettes, 51% smoking marijuana, and 58% consuming beer or wine. Most substance use ceased after 12–16 weeks of pregnancy. There were no significant differences between ethnic groups in substance use. Multiple regression analyses showed that cigarette smoking decreased when social support was provided by the adolescent's partner and it was higher if parents smoked and/or used alcohol p<.001. Parental substance use, combined with lack of social support, was also associated significantly with marijuana use p<.001, explaining 30% of the variance. Use of birth control prior to pregnancy was related to beer and wine consumption p<.05, explaining 16% of the variance. Active inclusion of members of the adolescent's support network in pregnancy care, and initiative by educators and clinicians in discussing substance use, may accelerate its cessation. Ethnicityrelated behavior change strategies may be of little relevance to adolescent substance use during pregnancy.This study was funded by grant no. MCR-060466-01-0 from the Maternal and Child Health and Crippled Children's Services Research Program, Bureau of Health Care Delivery and Assistance, DHHS, to the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University School of Medicine. The first author is supported by a fellowship from the Pew Memorial Trust.Received Ph.D. from Stanford University. Main interest is adolescent pregnancy and health of Latino populations.Received M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Main interest is perinatology.     

Drug and alcohol use,delinquency, and vandalism among upper middle class pre- and post-adolescents

This article analyzes data from a survey research study of students in the fifth through twelfth grades of an upper middle class Chicago suburban community. The findings indicate the use of alcohol and drugs among both prepubertal and teenage students, and the involvement of both groups in theft and vandalism. The level of community affluence and quality of community institutions and services rule out the explanations (the tangle of pathology) usually offered in studies of delinquency in lower class and low-income communities. Peer group pressures and psychogenic factors appear to influence these kinds of acting-out behavior. And since considerable numbers of students noted that their parents had not established certain important regulations for them, the view advanced by this study is that deficient socialization and inadequate parenting also appear to be causes of these behavioral problems. However, since the study did not categorize the data in a way to permit cross-tabulations either supporting or invalidating this argument, this conclusion is a tentative one. It is suggested that future research dealing with these problems among this social stratum investigate the influence of parenting on acting-out behavior.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Main interests are emotional problems and acting-out behavior.Received his M. A. from Loyola University.     

Acculturation, Enculturation, and Symptoms of Depression in Hispanic Youth: The Roles of Gender, Hispanic Cultural Values, and Family Functioning

The risk for depression increases as Hispanic youth acculturate to U.S. society. This association is stronger for Hispanic girls than boys. To better understand the influence of culture and family on depressive symptoms, we tested a process-oriented model of acculturation, cultural values, and family functioning. The data came from Project RED, which included 1,922 Hispanic students (53?% girls; 86?% were 14?years old; and 84?% were U.S. born) from Southern California. We used data from 9th to 11th grade to test the influence of acculturation-related experiences on depressive symptoms over time. Multi-group structural equation analysis suggested that both family conflict and cohesion were linked with depressive symptoms. Hispanic cultural values were associated with family cohesion and conflict but the strength and direction of these relationships varied across cultural values and gender. For girls and boys, familismo and respeto were associated with higher family cohesion and lower family conflict. Moreover, gender roles were linked with higher family cohesion in girls but not in boys. These results indicate that improving family functioning will be beneficial for boys' and girls' psychological well-being. This may be achieved by promoting familismo and respeto for boys and girls and by promoting traditional gender roles for girls.     

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.

Young adults' coping style as a predictor of their alcohol use and response to daily events

Limited resources for coping with stress have been associated with psychological disturbance and alcohol abuse among adults. In the current investigation, both retrospective questionnaires and prospective monitoring measures were used to test young adults' trait coping styles as predictors of their weekly alcohol consumption. Individuals who reported deficits in emotion focused and avoidant coping strategies drank more often than subjects with all other styles of coping. These subjects also exhibited greater overall alcohol consumption that subjects who employed high levels of emotion focused coping but low levels of avoidant coping. Results therefore support the idea that young adults' coping styles are related to their use of alcohol Analyses also showed strong positive correlations between questionnaire and monitored measures of drinking, but only moderate associations between the two measures of coping. Measurement methodologies of the current investigation are discussed in terms of their clinical and research applications.This research was supported in part by a NIAAA grant No. 1R29AA09135-01 to Kim Fromme and by two University of Delaware undergraduate research grants to Kathy Rivet.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1988. Major research interest focuses on the ways in which alcohol use influences young adult's participation in a variety of risky activities.     

Everyday stressors in the lives of Anglo and Hispanic learning handicapped adolescent

The sociocultural context of the lives of 10 learning handicapped adolescents was closely monitored over an entire school year using participant observation techniques. Everyday stressors and coping strategies of 5 Hispanic and 5 Anglo adolescents matched on age, sex, SES, class placement, and family intactness, were documented in lengthy field notes. Data revealed that in addition to concerns typical of all adolescents (i.e., family, work, recreation, appearance), cross pressure from cultural conflicts and the learning handicapped status were major sources of stress for these adolescent subgroups. It was concluded that we need to understand stressful events as a function of the context in which lives are situated in order to develop intervention programs designed to teach stress management and strategies for coping with relevant real-life problems.This research was supported in part by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant No. HD23097.Received Ed.D. from Columbia University. Current interests include social competence and family relations of culturally diverse learning handicapped populations.     

Hallucinations in nonpsychotic children and adolescents

The case histories of ten nonpsychotic patients (nine female and one male) who had experienced hallucinations are summarized. Significant anxiety and depression were found in the majority of the patients, five of whom expressed suicidal ideas. Stress factors were primarily family and school. Eight children had combined auditory and visual hallucinations, which involved dead relatives in five cases. The aims or purposes of the hallucinations were multiple, but escape mechanisms were most common. A profile of the nonpsychotic patient most likely to experience hallucinations would be a socially immature teenage girl who is experiencing depression and anxiety due to stress within the family.     

Risk and resilience in young adolescents

This exploratory study focused on the role of risk and protective factors in 179 adolescents from a middle and lower income northeastern school district. The protective factors examined were family cohesion, locus of control, mother/father communication, and relationship with a nonparent adult. The study found that the protective factors were powerful predictors of adaptation in their own right independent of risk. Protective factors were found to be highly context specific and there was no evidence of broadly applicable protective factors. Gender was found to be an important aspect of context, and there were significant sex differences. Most strikingly, the study did not find any significant interactions between protective factors and risk for girls or boys. Thus, these results support the growing view that researchers must identify specific rather than global protective factors that provide protection in the space of specific risks for youth in specific life contexts.A grant from the Boston University Graduate School provided initial support for this project.Received Ph.D. from Yale University in clinical psychology. Research interests include effects of risk, particularly sexual and physical abuse, and resiliency.Received M.A. from Boston University. Research interests include risk and developmental factors in psychopathology.Received Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Boston University Department of Psychology. Research interests include study of adolescence and risk factors.Received Ph.D. from Boston University.Received M.A. from Eastern Nazarine College, Quincy, MA.Received B.A. from Boston University Department of Psychology, Boston, MA 02215.