Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The Influence of Sensation-Seeking & Parental & Peer Influences in Early Adolescence on Risk Involvement through Middle Adolescence

This study examined the relationships between youth and parental sensation-seeking, peer influence, parental monitoring and youth risk involvement in adolescence using structural equation modeling. 

Beginning in grade-six, longitudinal data were collected from 543 students over three years. Youth sensation-seeking in grade six contributed to risk involvement in early adolescence (grades six and seven) indirectly through increased peer risk influence and decreased parental monitoring but did not have a direct contribution. It contributed directly and indirectly to risk involvement in middle adolescence (grades eight and nine). 

Parent sensation-seeking at baseline was positively associated with peer risk influence and negatively associated with parental monitoring; it had no direct effect on adolescent risk involvement. Parental monitoring buffers negative peer influence on adolescent risk involvement. 

Results highlight the need for intervention efforts to provide normative feedback about adolescent risky behaviors and to vary among families in which parents and/or youth have high sensation-seeking propensities.

Proportions of youth involved in risky behaviors at baseline, 12, 24, and 36 months
Risky behaviorsBaseline12 months24 months36 monthsz
Sample size543494458451
Delinquent behaviors
 Was suspended from school1.9%2.5%11.9%16.9%9.12c
 Was truant3.2%1.9%3.8%3.6%0.82
 Carried a weapon4.4%4.1%5.3%9.7%3.45c
 Engaged in a fight33.2%21.8%22.5%24.6%3.20b
Substance use behaviors
 Smoked cigarettes2.0%1.6%2.4%1.8%0.01
 Drank alcohol18.5%14.7%18.6%29.3%3.60c
 Used marijuana0.4%1.0%1.1%2.7%2.97b
 Sold or carried drugs1.1%0.6%1.3%2.2%1.58
 Been asked to sell drugs1.5%1.6%2.4%2.7%1.47
Sexual behaviors
 Ever had sex3.6%9.6%20.8%28.6%13.90c
 Had sex in the last 6 months1.0%3.1%7.9%13.7%9.15c
 Ever had anal sex0.8%2.1%6.8%8.7%8.14c
 Had multiple sex partners0.2%0.6%2.9%4.4%6.12c
 Did not use a condom during last sexual encounter66.7%59.6%44.0%27.3%5.04c

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/IZYp7q

1Pediatric Prevention Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA
2Office of HIV/AIDS, the Bahamas Ministry of Health, Nassau, The Bahamas
Corresponding author: Bo Wang, Ph.D., Pediatric Prevention Research Center, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 4707 St. Antoine, Suite W534, Detroit, MI 48201, Phone: 313-966-2366, Fax: 313-745-4993
Youth Soc. 2016 Mar; 48(2): 220–241.
Published online 2013 May 6. doi:  10.1177/0044118X13487228




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