Development of sexual orientation among adolescent and young adult women

Although some research suggests that sexual orientation is a stable, early appearing trait, interviews with 89 young sexual-minority women revealed that a majority of women failed to report at least one of the following: childhood indicators of sexual orientation, stability in same-sex attractions, or awareness of same-sex attractions prior to the conscious process of sexual questioning. Lesbians were not more likely to report these experiences than bisexuals, although they reported significantly greater same-sex attractions. Consistent with studies on older cohorts, few young women reported exclusive same-sex attractions. These findings suggest that recollected consistency among prior and current behavior, ideation, and attractions are not systematically associated with sexual orientation among contemporary young women.     

Consequences of adolescent drug use on young adult job behavior and job satisfaction.

Longitudinal data (N?=?785) collected during Ss' high school years (1971–1973) and in 1981 were used to assess the influence of adolescent drug use on adult job behaviors, job satisfaction, and adverse terminations while accounting for concurrent adult drug use, years of drug use, and adult work-related indicators in confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and predictive path models. Although significantly related in the CFAs, higher adolescent achievement motivation did not predict less adult drug use when adolescent drug use was included as a control. Less achievement motivation in adolescence significantly predicted more negative job behaviors and less job satisfaction, but not terminations. Correlations were significant between more adolescent drug use and less adolescent achievement motivation and between adult job problems and adult drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial resources, adolescent risk behaviour and young adult adjustment: is risk taking more dangerous for some than others?

Longitudinal analyses examined the extent to which adolescent alcohol use, illegal drug use, and antisocial behaviour predicted adjustment and risk behaviour during young adulthood, and whether psychosocial resources buffered any impact of risk-taking. American adolescents completed questionnaires in Grade 12 and 2 years later (n = 694). Personal and social resources predicted success in occupational, relational, and health domains. High school risk behaviours predicted decreased success in relational domains, and alcohol use predicted higher educational attainment, independent of the relations with psychosocial resources. Interactions of resources with risk behaviours predicting adjustment were inconsistent, but resources predicted decreased risk behaviours in young adulthood among adolescent risk-takers. Discussion focuses on the value of, and challenges to, research on consequences of adolescent risk taking.     

Psychosocial correlates and predictors of AIDS risk behaviors, abortion, and drug use among a community sample of young adult women.

Examined relations among latent constructs of Social Conformity, Sensation Seeking, Polydrug Use, Sexual Experience, Abortion, and Risky AIDS Behavior among a community sample of women (N?=?438, mean age 25.5 yrs) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and predictive structural equation models (SEMs). In the CFA, Risky AIDS Behavior was strongly related to more Polydrug Use and less Social Conformity and modestly related to Sexual Experience and Abortion. In SEMs, Social Conformity significantly predicted less Risky AIDS Behavior and less Polydrug Use but did not predict Abortion. Prior Sexual Experience predicted more Polydrug Use and Abortion. The same psychological processes and predispositions that relate low social conformity to drug use and other unhealthy behaviors may also influence AlDS-risk behaviors, even among a community sample of women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral factors affecting HIV prevention for adolescent and young adult IDUs

Epidemiological and sociobehavioral data regarding HIV-related risk and injection drug use among adolescents and young adults are examined to provide insight and assistance to nurses delivering preventive intervention and community and clinical care. The increase in HIV/AIDS cases among injection drug users (IDUs), adolescents, and African Americans strongly suggests that clinical care providers acquire a better understanding of the sociocultural and behavioral context within which health care is provided. Transition into injection drug use, high-risk injecting and sexual behaviors, sociodemographic differences, and the importance of social networks are discussed. Nurses are encouraged to provide health promotion, disease prevention messages, and health care to IDUs in small nontraditional clinical settings and to seek out the assistance of the IDUs' social network to increase adherence and compliance to complex prevention and therapeutic efforts.     

Parental work schedules and adolescent risky behaviors.

Using a large contemporary data set (the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth–Child Supplement), the authors examined the effects of parental work schedules on adolescent risky behaviors at age 13 or 14 and the mechanisms that might explain them. Structural equation modeling suggests mothers who worked more often at night spent significantly less time with children and had lower quality home environments, and these mediators were significantly linked to adolescent risky behaviors. Similar effects were not found for evening work schedules, while other types of maternal and paternal nonstandard work schedules were linked to higher parental knowledge of children's whereabouts, which led to lower levels of adolescent risky behaviors. Subgroup analyses revealed that boys, those in families with low incomes, and those whose mothers never worked at professional jobs may particularly be affected by mothers working at nights, due to spending less time together, having a lower degree of maternal closeness, and experiencing lower quality home environments. In addition, the effects of maternal night shifts were particularly pronounced if children were in the preschool or middle-childhood years when their mothers worked those schedules. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The punitive beliefs and behaviors of adolescent delinquent boys.

In a study with 22 institutionalized male delinquent and 22 matched high school students, delinquents were found to have very punitive beliefs relative to previously tested populations. The delinquents tended to have more punitive beliefs and did have more punitive behavior than the controls. Responses to Piagetian interview stories that represented 3 relationships between thief and victim (adolescent to mother, teacher, or peer) were significantly different with the mother story eliciting the most number of punitive responses. In a subsequent rat-training procedure the delinquent boys used punishment as their predominant response to the "misbehaving" rat showing cooccurrence of punitive belief and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal pathways linking family factors and sibling relationship qualities to adolescent substance use and sexual risk behaviors.

This 3-wave, 5-year longitudinal study tested the contributions of family contextual factors and sibling relationship qualities to younger siblings' substance use, sexual risk behaviors, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted disease. More than 220 non-White families participated (67% Latino and 33% African American), all of which involved a younger sibling (133 girls and 89 boys; mean age=13.6 years at Time 1) and an older sister (mean age=17 years at Time 1). Results from structural equation latent growth curve modeling indicated that qualities of the sibling relationship (high older sister power, low warmth/closeness, and low conflict) mediated effects from several family risks (mothers' single parenting, older sisters' teen parenting, and family's receipt of aid) to younger sibling outcomes. Model results were generally stronger for sister-sister pairs than for sister-brother pairs. Findings add to theoretical models that emphasize the role of family and parenting processes in shaping sibling relationships, which, in turn, influence adolescent outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familial antecedents of young adult health risk behavior: A longitudinal study.

With a sample of 116, the authors asked how characteristics of the family, rated by adolescents, predicted health risk behavior at young adulthood 6 years later and whether adolescent and young adult personal and emotional functioning mediated these relationships. The authors also explored the consistency of relationships among these variables across 4 types of families: balanced, traditional, disconnected, and emotionally strained. The family variables significantly predicted young adult health risk behavior over time and functioning at adolescence and young adulthood did not serve as a mediator. The family model operated well in 3 of the 4 family contexts; it failed to operate among offspring from disconnected families. Characteristics of the family affect the display of health risk behavior when offspring come from families that have well-defined and coherent family structures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do adolescent pregnancy and childbearing affect younger siblings?

To understand the consequences of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing on siblings, a study compares 309 younger brothers and sisters of pregnant, parenting and never-pregnant teenagers. Compared with the younger siblings of never-pregnant teenagers, the younger sisters of pregnant teenagers see school and career as less important, are more accepting of adolescent childbearing, perceive younger ages as appropriate for first intercourse, marriage and childbearing and engage in more problem behavior. The younger sisters of parenting teenagers are more accepting of teenage childbearing than are younger sisters of never-pregnant teenagers and have more definite intentions of having a child at a young age. Compared with boys who have a never-pregnant older sister, younger brothers of pregnant and parenting teenagers are more accepting of nonmarital childbearing, ascribe more importance to childbearing, perceive fewer problems related to early childbearing, have lower self-esteem and report engaging in more drug use and partying behavior.     

Psychological predictors of young adults' drinking behaviors.

Path analyses using data from 72 men and 78 women between 22 and 32 years of age compared two models linking personality (conflict resolution styles, intimacy maturity, and occupational identity status) and social roles (family and work status) to young adults' alcohol use. Poor conflict resolution skills and less adult work statuses best accounted for men's excessive drinking, and problems with intimacy best accounted for women's use of alcohol to alleviate emotional distress. In addition, poor conflict resolution skills partly mediated the effects of parents' drinking on sons' alcohol consumption. Occupational identity status and intimacy maturity correlated with men's use of drugs rather than men's alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health-promoting behaviors of rural adolescent women

A part of a larger study of the health behaviors of adolescent women, this investigation examined health-promoting behaviors and the influence of cognitive, social, and environmental factors on these health-promoting behaviors of rural adolescent women. The sample consisted of 128 rural African-American and white adolescent women. Forty-four percent of the variance in health-promoting behavior of this sample was explained by five variables: self-image, problem solving, mother's education, employment status, and family structure. Self-image was the most salient predictor of health-promoting behavior, explaining 33% of the variance.     

Predictors of adolescent dieting behaviors: A longitudinal study.

Research suggests that dieting is a risk factor for bulimia nervosa, yet little is known about the predictors of dieting. Accordingly, this study examined the correlates and prospective predictors of dieting in a community sample of 320 adolescent females (aged 16–19 yrs). Results indicate that body mass, pressure to be thin, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, and binge eating were positively correlated with dieting. Moreover, body mass, pressure to be thin, body dissatisfaction, and binge eating prospectively predicted increased dieting over a 9-mo period. Multivariate analyses revealed that this set of predictors accounted for significant variance in concurrent and subsequent dieting, although only some of the unique effects were significant in the full models. Not only do these findings identify several risk factors for dieting, but they also suggest that dieting may be a response to bulimic pathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between expectancies and adolescent dieting behaviors

Dieting expectancies are cognitive variables pertaining to anticipated outcomes individuals expect to obtain from dieting to lose weight. This investigation examined the factor structure of dieting expectancies in an adolescent population, age 10-18, and tested the ability of factors to distinguish among types of dieter, diet pill user, and vomiter groups. Emerging from a principal components analysis were five reliable expectancy factors: Social Confidence, Social Approval, Self-Worth, Positive Performance, and Negative Consequences. Results indicate dieting expectancies and gender are important in distinguishing among adolescents who engage in different dieting practices. Gender and Self-Worth were particularly important in distinguishing frequent dieters from nondieters. Social Approval was best at separating frequent dieters from occasional dieters, diet pills users from nonusers, and vomiters from nonvomiters.     

Psychiatric ward behavior and length of stay in adolescent and young adult inpatients: A developmental approach to prediction.

Investigated the capacity of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT) to predict problem ward behavior and length of hospitalization (LOS) in 67 13–28 yr old psychiatric inpatients. It was hypothesized that the SCT would assess complex aspects of personality development related to judgment, impulse control, and social competence, which in turn would be reflected in ward behavior and LOS. Problem ward behavior included a variety of incidents including assaults, accidents, and suicide attempts. The SCT predicted a small but significant increment in variance in problem ward behaviors after evaluation of IQ and age in the hierarchical multiple regression and predicted a much larger final increment (21%) of LOS. Findings support the validity of the SCT for clinical research and provide a developmental perspective on ward behavior and LOS. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of African-American adolescent crack cocaine users and nonusers: Background factors in drug use and HIV sexual risk behaviors.

58 African-American male and female adolescents (aged 13–18 yrs) were recruited by street outreach in San Francisco. By self-report, 22 were crack users; 36 were noncrack users. What appeared to distinguish noncrack users from crack users prior to their drug use was the long-term quality of family, peer, and community interactions. Before initiating crack use, users were more likely to spend holidays alone or with friends than with their immediate or extended family. Users were less likely to recall pleasant childhood memories and were more likely to have begun sex with casual rather than steady partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between adolescent substance use and young adult internalizing symptoms: Findings from a high-risk longitudinal sample.

The present study examined the role of adolescent substance use and its antecedent behavioral and familial risk factors in the prediction of young adult internalizing symptoms 10 years later, using a community sample of children of alcoholics (n = 194) and demographically matched controls (n = 209). Using growth curve modeling, the authors found that initial levels of adolescent alcohol and drug use (μage = 13) and growth in drug use during adolescence predicted higher levels of internalizing symptoms in young adulthood, even after including in the models shared risk factors for both internalizing symptoms and adolescent substance use. These effects remained significant after including concurrent substance use in adulthood, suggesting that adolescent substance use exerts a long-term impact on young adult internalizing symptoms over and above the effects of persistent substance use over time. The present investigation further revealed that initial levels of alcohol and drug use in adolescence mediate the relation between parental alcoholism and young adult internalizing symptoms. Findings provide evidence for the long-term effects of adolescent substance use on young adult functioning and can help inform both etiological and prevention research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health behaviors in Portugal. Epidemiological studies

It is necessary to evaluate habitudes and behaviours in health in Portugal. The purpose of this review is to analyse some portuguese epidemiological studies. CINDI-Portugal, ERICA-Portugal and the National Health Inquiry were national studies regarding multiple health data. Nutritional attitudes and practices have been evaluated since 1940. The National Food Study and the Study of Prevalence of Obesity in Portugal studied Portuguese nutritional attitudes. There are studies of the prevalence of eating disorders i school populations. Some research about the association between food and disease is reported. The Portuguese Food Balance is reviewed. Some methodological problems are pointed out and the results discussed. The results of Portuguese studies suggest that our country is in danger of errors in the course of consumption attitudes.