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 behaviors	Baseline	12 months	24 months	36 months	z
Sample size	543	494	458	451
Delinquent behaviors
Was suspended from school	1.9%	2.5%	11.9%	16.9%	9.12c
Was truant	3.2%	1.9%	3.8%	3.6%	0.82
Carried a weapon	4.4%	4.1%	5.3%	9.7%	3.45c
Engaged in a fight	33.2%	21.8%	22.5%	24.6%	3.20b
Substance use behaviors
Smoked cigarettes	2.0%	1.6%	2.4%	1.8%	0.01
Drank alcohol	18.5%	14.7%	18.6%	29.3%	3.60c
Used marijuana	0.4%	1.0%	1.1%	2.7%	2.97b
Sold or carried drugs	1.1%	0.6%	1.3%	2.2%	1.58
Been asked to sell drugs	1.5%	1.6%	2.4%	2.7%	1.47
Sexual behaviors
Ever had sex	3.6%	9.6%	20.8%	28.6%	13.90c
Had sex in the last 6 months	1.0%	3.1%	7.9%	13.7%	9.15c
Ever had anal sex	0.8%	2.1%	6.8%	8.7%	8.14c
Had multiple sex partners	0.2%	0.6%	2.9%	4.4%	6.12c
Did not use a condom during last sexual encounter	66.7%	59.6%	44.0%	27.3%	5.04c

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

By:  Bo Wang,1 Lynette Deveaux,2 Sonja Lunn,2 Veronica Dinaj-Koci,1 Xiaoming Li,1 and Bonita Stanton1

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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Race, Ethnicity, and Adolescent Violent Victimization

The risk of adolescent violent victimization in the United States varies considerably across racial and ethnic populations; it is unknown whether the sources of risk also vary by race and ethnicity. 

This study examined the correlates of violent victimization for White, Black, and Hispanic youth. Data collected from 11,070 adolescents (51 % female, mean age = 15.04 years) during the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health were used to estimate group-specific multilevel logistic regression models. 

The results indicate that male, violent offending, peer deviance, gang membership, and low self-control were significantly associated with increased odds of violent victimization for all groups. Some activities-including getting drunk, sneaking out, and unstructured socializing with peers-were risk factors for Black adolescents only; skipping school was a risk factor only for Hispanic adolescents. 

Although there are many similarities across groups, the findings suggest that minority adolescents are particularly vulnerable to violent victimization when they engage in some activities and minor forms of delinquency.

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By:  Tillyer MS1, Tillyer R2.

• 1Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio (http://copp.utsa.edu/department/category/criminal-justice/), 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio, TX, 78207, USA. Marie.Tillyer@utsa.edu.
• 2Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio, TX, 78207, USA. Rob.Tillyer@utsa.edu. 
• J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Jan 14.

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Prediction of Long-Term Outcomes in Young Adults with a History of Adolescent Alcohol-Related Hospitalization

AIMS:

Empirical data concerning the long-term psychosocial development of adolescents admitted to inpatient treatment with alcohol intoxication (AIA) are lacking. The aim of this study was to identify the factors that, at the time of admission, predict future substance use, alcohol use disorders (AUD), mental health treatment, delinquency and life satisfaction.

METHODS:

We identified 1603 cases of AIA treated between 2000 and 2007 in one of five pediatric departments in Germany. These former patients were invited to participate in a telephone interview. Medical records were retrospectively analyzed extracting potential variables predicting long-term outcomes.

RESULTS:

Interviews were conducted with 277 individuals, 5-13 [mean 8.3 (SD 2.3)] years after treatment, with a response rate of 22.7%; of these, 44.8% were female. Mean age at the interview was 24.4 (SD 2.2) years. Logistic and linear regression models revealed that being male, using illicit substances and truancy or runaway behavior in adolescence predicted binge drinking, alcohol dependence, use of illicit substances and poor general life satisfaction in young adulthood, explaining between 13 and 24% of the variance for the different outcome variables.

CONCLUSIONS:

This naturalistic study confirms that known risk factors for the development of AUD also apply to AIA. This finding facilitates targeted prevention efforts for those cases of AIA who need more than the standard brief intervention for aftercare.

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By:   Groß C1, Kraus L2, Piontek D3, Reis O4, Zimmermann US5; RISCA Group.

• 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany cornelius.gross@uniklinikum-dresden.de.
• 2IFT Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich 80804, Germany Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, SoRAD, Stockholm University, Stockholm 10691, Sweden.
• 3IFT Institut für Therapieforschung, Munich 80804, Germany.
• 4Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medicine of Rostock, Rostock 18147, Germany.
• 5Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany. 

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Psychosocial & Developmental Characteristics of Female Adolescents Who Have Committed Sexual Offenses

The present study aimed to examine differences in psychosocial and developmental characteristics between Adolescent Females who have committed Sexual Offenses (AFSOs; n = 40), Adolescent Females who have committed nonsexual Violent Offenses (AFVOs; n = 533), and Adolescent Males who have committed Sexual Offenses (AMSO, n = 743). 

Results showed that AFSOs and AMSOs were remarkably similar, whereas AFSOs and AFVOs were remarkably different on the measured variables. Compared to AFVOs, AFSOs less often had antisocial friends and problems in the domains of school (truancy, behavior problems, dropping out of school) and family (e.g., parental problems, poor authority and control, and run away from home). Victimization of sexual abuse outside the family and social isolation were found to be more common in AFSOs than in AFVOs. 

Victimization of sexual abuse outside the family was the only specific characteristic of female adolescent sexual offending, as this was more common in AFSOs than in both AMSOs and AFVOs.

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By: van der Put C1, van Vugt ES2, Stams GJ2, Hendriks J2.

• 1Research Institute Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands c.e.vanderput@uva.nl.
• 2Research Institute Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 

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