Protective factors in adolescent problem behavior: Moderator effects and developmental change.

The relation of psychosocial protective factors to involvement in problem behavior (alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, and sexual precocity) was investigated in a longitudinal study of 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in a large, urban school district. Protective factors were drawn from the personality, the perceived environment, and the behavior systems of problem-behavior theory. The findings show a significant inverse relation between protection and problem-behavior involvement. There is a significant interaction between protection and risk in the prediction of problem behavior: Protection is shown to moderate the relation of risk to problem behavior. Protective factors are also significant predictors of change in adolescent problem behavior over time. Direct effects of protection are consistent across all gender and racial/ethnic subgroups; moderator effects are evident for female, White, and Hispanic subgroups only. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rewards and adolescent health behavior.

Observed 363 male and 369 female 7th-grade adolescents' use of a fluoride rinse over 2 school years. The rinse habit tended to end when reward contingencies were withdrawn. Although participation was higher with a saturated schedule of reward contingencies in effect, the comparison partial schedule of rewards showed less immediate attrition when the reward contingencies were withdrawn. Other findings include higher participation levels for girls compared to boys and for urban compared to suburban students. Self-management instruction, a strategy intended to compensate for the withdrawal of tangible rewards, worked temporarily among urban Ss but at the same time resulted in lower levels of postreward rinsing among suburban Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentary on rewards and adolescent health behavior.

Responds to a study by A. K. Lund and S. S. Kegeles (see record 1988-11516-001) on the use of rewards to influence the health behavior of adolescents. It is noted that the study neglected to include any measures of the dependent variable (i.e., dental caries, cavities). It is also suggested that perhaps the particular items used for motivation (e.g., toys, pencils) were not uniformly valued by the participants. A question is raised about the effectiveness of using a fluoride rinse with adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family risk factors for child and adolescent suicidal behavior.

In this review, the author evaluates the empirical support for the claims that various aspects of family dysfunction are risk factors for completed suicide or suicidal symptoms in childhood or adolescence. There is consistent evidence that a history of physical or sexual abuse is a risk factor and some evidence for other risk factors, including poor family or parent-child communication, loss of caregiver to separation or death, and psychopathology in first-degree relatives. However, the researchers of the vast majority of studies did not attend to whether the putative risk factors preceded the development of suicidal symptoms; thus, most of the claims regarding family risk factors are not justified by their research designs and findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The health consequences of adolescent sexual and fertility behavior in sub-Saharan Africa

This article reviews the literature on health consequences of adolescent sexual behavior and child-bearing in sub-Saharan Africa, and the social and cultural context in which they occur. It suggests that, in addressing the most serious health sequelae, sexual intercourse that occurs in early marriage and premaritally must both be considered. Some limitations of the data are noted. Despite the excess risk to which adolescents are exposed, due both to custom and age-related vulnerability, differences between health effects among adult and adolescent women are often differences in degree. They are attributable to behavioral, social, and biological causes, exist in traditional and nontraditional settings, in union and out of union, and are exacerbated by declining ages at menarche, pressures of HIV/AIDS and STDs, and a dearth of appropriate services-especially for young people. Some current interventions are discussed, and the need for policy as well as medical intervention is stressed.     

Rewards and adolescent health behavior: Promise or promise missed.

The paper, "Rewards and Adolescent Health Behavior," appearing on the following pages, is the second of two similar, large-scale field studies appearing in this journal on improving dental hygiene practices in junior high school students (see Lund & Kegeles, 1982). Both studies report well-designed and carefully evaluated experiments in the everyday setting of the school and raise two important issues for the reader: (1) Neither offers a great deal of encouragement in respect to the adequacy of our theoretical knowledge or technical competency in achieving substantial change in the health-promoting behaviors of school age children; and (2) Neither study encourages optimism in regard to the cost-effectiveness of health-promotion programs for adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived abuse and neglect as risk factors for suicidal behavior in adolescent inpatients

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces while performing a push of 7.6 m, performed at a frequency of 1 push min-1 on a magnetic particle brake treadmill and a high-inertia push-cart. Eight male industrial workers performed a 40 min treadmill pushing task in the context of a larger experiment and two, 2 h push-cart tasks with a unique water loading system. A psychophysical methodology was employed, whereby the subjects were asked to select a workload they could sustain for 8 h without straining themselves or without becoming unusually tired, weakened, overheated or out of breath. The results revealed that maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces of pushing on the high inertia cart were significantly higher (28 and 23%, respectively) than pushing forces on the magnetic particle brake treadmill. It was concluded that adjustments to the pushing and pulling data bank by Snook and Ciriello (1991) may be appropriate if verification of this experiment yields similar results.     

Multiple prediction of adult psychological health from preadolescent and adolescent behavior.

Reanalyzed the data previously obtained in a longitudinal study on the childhood antecedents of adult mental health of 31 males and 33 females. Several significant relationships were found between adolescent (ages 14-16 yr.) behavior and adult psychological health when the effects of predictive preadolescent (ages 11-13 yr.) behaviors were held constant. For both sexes, all adolescent effects were reversals of significant preadolescent effects. Although more emphatic for females, these reversals indicate a change from a relatively tension- or conflict-free preadolescence to a reactive and stressful adolescence. The social responsiveness of adolescent males was also contributory if carried over from preadolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of environment on adolescent mental health and behavior: structural equation modeling

This study uses structural equation models to describe how objective neighborhood, perceived neighborhood, and environmental support predict mental health; 792 adolescents responded to highly structured interviews. The effect of objective environment on mental health was mediated through its influence on perceived neighborhood. Environmental support mitigated negative perceptions of environment and the effect of perceived environment on mental health, while exposure to violence augmented the negative effect of perceived environment.     

A behavior genetic investigation of adolescent motherhood and offspring mental health problems.

The present study examines the relations between adolescent motherhood and children's behavior, substance use, and internalizing problems in a sample of 1,368 children of 712 female twins from Australia. Adolescent motherhood remained significantly associated with all mental health problems, even when using a quasiexperimental design capable of controlling for genetic and environmental confounds. However, the relation between adolescent motherhood and offspring behavior problems and substance use was partially confounded by family background variables that influence both generations. The results are consistent with a causal relation between adolescent motherhood and offspring mental health problems, and they highlight the usefulness of behavior genetic designs when examining putative environmental risks for the development of psychopathology. The generalizability of these results to the United States, which has a higher adolescent birth rate, is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal ideology and adolescent problem behavior.

Assessed the relationship of maternal traditional ideology to adolescent problem behavior in a correlational study. Mothers of 184 junior and senior high school students were interviewed about their beliefs about society and morality and about their child-rearing practices; their sons and daughters responded separately to questionnaires that included reports of their own behavior with respect to alcohol and marihuana use, sex, and political activism. Results of the correlational analyses supported the main hypothesis that the more traditional the mother's ideology, the less the adolescent's involvement in problem behavior. A 2nd hypothesis, that maternal affectional interaction and controls, taken in conjunction with ideological beliefs, would account for more of the variation in adolescent problem behavior, was partially supported. In general, the associations between mother's ideology and adolescent behavior were stronger for daughters than for sons. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reproductive health in adolescent students: knowledge, attitudes, and behavior in both sexes, in a community of Santiago

Nine hundred forty eight teenagers (600 females) from a public school of one of the poorest communities of Santiago were surveyed about knowledge and practices on sexuality and reproductive health. Twenty four percent of females and 40% of males did not talk about their problems at home, instead they talked preferentially with their friends. Half of the sample attributed a risk a pregnancy to the first sexual intercourse; 67% did not know the infertile phase of the menstrual cycle and 20% did not identify two sexually transmitted diseases. Sixty percent considered rhythm technique as a safe fertility control method, 60% of males and 50% of females considered masturbation as risky, 57% of males and 49% of females estimated that condoms could be reused and between 5 and 16% of the sample correctly identified AIDS modes of transmission. Fifty percent had a couple and 23% of males and 17% of females had a sexual intercourse in the last six months; of these, 45% of women and 27% of men used a contraceptive method. Four percent of women and 6% of men became involved in a pregnancy and 57% of these terminated in abortions. It is concluded that knowledge about sexuality and reproductive biology among low income teenagers is scanty.     

Levels of analysis and efforts to modify adolescent health behavior: A commentary on Lund and Kegeles.

Responds to an article by A. K. Lund and S. S. Kegeles on rewards and adolescent health behavior (see record 1988-11516-001). It is suggested that perhaps adolescents responded or did not respond to self-management instruction because of their varying levels of sophistication and their need to maintain a sense of freedom and control. The need for viewing such a study at the molecular, molar, and macro levels is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing and managing adolescent health problems.

Reviews the book, Health-promoting and health-compromising behaviors among minority adolescents by D. K. Wilson, J. R. Rodrique, and W. C. Taylor (1997). Although this book was not written specifically for the school-based practitioner, this edited volume provides a comprehensive review of the health-related behavior of diverse adolescent populations and describes empirically validated intervention and prevention models that are very useful to school mental health professionals, particularly those working in urban settings with culturally diverse youth. The editors have divided the text into four sections. The first section provides a useful theoretical framework encompassing developmental, biological, social, and cultural perspectives. The second section describes behavioral patterns among culturally diverse adolescents that compromise and promote health, including drug use, eating habits, physical activity, and sexual behavior. The third section describes several intervention models that have been demonstrated to be effective with minority adolescents. The concluding section provides insight into health policy issues impacting minority adolescents, including access to adequate health care. This volume represents an important contribution to the literature in the area of pediatric, prevention, and community psychology. Although the text generally fails to highlight sufficiently the power of the school as a protective context for adolescents, the conceptual models and examples of community-based programs presented offer the school psychologist very useful information about designing and implementing prevention and intervention programs in schools. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some self-reported correlates of runaway behavior in adolescent females.

The responses of 52 White female runaways (aged 14 yrs 5 mo to 17 yrs 11 mo) were contrasted with those of 51 White age-matched female nonrunaways on measures of family interaction, social self-esteem, and desirable and undesirable agentic and communal traits. As predicted, nonrunaways described their parents as supportive and restrictive and themselves as having social self-esteem to a significantly greater extent than did their runaway peers. Runaways endorsed socially undesirable agentic traits to a significantly greater degree and socially desirable communal traits to a significantly lesser degree than did nonrunaway counterparts. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)