Interpersonal physical space was measured in two groups of male high school students, 30 deviants and 30 normals. Analysis of variance showed that (a) deviants demanded a greater proxemic area, (b) there was a significant increase in proxemic distance from front to rear with no difference between the groups, and (c) both groups demonstrated the…

Examined developmental origins of one coronary-prone component of Type A pattern, tendency to suppress attention to physical symptoms. Studied symptom-reporting behavior of 85 children between ages of 5 and 14. Type A children underreported variety of symptoms, independent of gender and age; missed less school following surgery; and were…

Examined the nonmedical utilization rates of selected substances among an adolescent population of students (N=2,036). Analysis of psychosocial variables indicated that age at first use; frequency of use of marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes; and amount of available spending money were significant predictors of drug use. (LLL)

The adaptive style theory proposes that given a sustained aversive maternal control experience children will come to adopt one of two perceptual orientations toward evaluative cues. This postulate was tested by exposing 78 late adolescent males to an array of evaluative words which they were told came from a maternal source. As predicted,…

For both boys and girls, all adolescent effects are reversals of significant preadolescent effects. These reversals, predictive of adult health, can be commonly described as a change from a relatively tension-free or conflict-free preadolescence to a reactive and stressful adolescence. (Author)

Examined adolescents' current use of substances and their interactions with peers and significant adults. Users of various substances associated with other individuals who used the same substances. Adolescent drug users do not appear to form subcultures delineated from nonuser subcultures along interaction dimensions other than that of drug use.…

Summarizes outcome results of treatment programs for boys exhibiting problems commonly subsumed under the label "conduct disorder." Treatment consisted of training agents in each setting to alter the deviant behaviors of the problem child. Direct observations were made in children's homes and classrooms before, during, and after intervention.…

Because little is known about risk factors for obesity, the authors tested whether certain psychological and behavioral variables predicted future onset of obesity. The authors used data from a prospective study of 496 adolescent girls who completed a baseline assessment at age 11-15 years and 4 annual follow-ups. Self-reported dietary restraint,…

Problem behavior theory predicts that norm-violating attitudes and activities reflect syndrome. Findings from community sample revealed that criminal behavior was more determined by general deviance in adulthood than in young adulthood, whereas sexual involvement became less determined by common factors between these times. Drug use and low social…

Adolescents (N=36) categorized as nonobese, obese in a weight control program, and obese who rejected a weight control program were given opportunities to snack and were administered three personality tests. Results indicated the highest level of maturity for nonobese adolescents. Other results are also reported. (Author)

Assessed the theoretical and practical utility of adolescent alcohol expectancies against demographic/background variables in the prediction of adolescent drinking (N=1,580). Results showed that expectancies equalled and added to the predictive power of the background variables. Adolescents who drank in a social manner expected alcohol to enhance…

Adolescents who were more internally focused were more able to discern which symptoms actually covaried with blood glucose (BG) fluctuations; those with higher trait anxiety tended to misattribute non-diabetes-related symptoms to BG levels. Interactions suggested those who both attend to internal physical sensations and experience-heightened…

An anonymous survey of adolescents (N=3,690) was used to assess how much of the unique variance in adolescents' self-reported drug use was accounted for by number of parents in comparison to the adolescents' sex, age, social class, and peer drug use. (Author)