Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases a list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field. The "2019 IACC Summary of Advances" provides short, plain language summaries of the top research breakthroughs selected by the IACC from a pool of research articles nominated by the…

This study examines prevention system transformation as part of a community-randomized controlled trial of Communities That Care (CTC). Using data from surveys of community leaders, we examine differences between CTC and control communities 4.5 years after CTC implementation. Significantly higher levels of adopting a science-based approach to…

A large volume of research has investigated interrelations among adolescent risk behaviors. Although several theoretical accounts have been proposed, researchers have not directly examined hypotheses for "why" risk behaviors are linked. In the present paper, a distinction is drawn between predictive factors that explain variance in risk behaviors…

In a well-designed experiment, random assignment of participants to treatments makes causal inference straightforward. However, if participants are not randomized (as in observational study, quasi-experiment, or nonequivalent control-group designs), group comparisons may be biased by confounders that influence both the outcome and the alleged…

Compared three risk measures associated with adolescent substance use (truancy, grade point average, and recent sexual intercourse) to assess the reliability of risk measures across different survey instruments, communities, and points in time. Truancy appeared superior because of its strong predictive value, particularly among younger children,…

This study was designed to fill the need for empirically derived information to determine the most salient factors which differentiate street gang youths from youths in comparable neighborhoods who remain independent of the street gang. (Author)

Reexamined previous statistical comparisons of two models for adolescent drug abuse using new statistical estimation methods in causal modeling not requiring assumptions about normally distributed variables. An asymptotically distribution free method shows that the models fit even better than assumed in the initial work. (Author/JAC)

A telephone survey was conducted among rural adolescents (N=414) to determine what demographic and theoretical factors from control, strain (or opportunity), and social learning theories predict occurrence of sexual intercourse and sexual partners. Sample characteristics, frequency distribution (dependent variables), and statistical…

A longitudinal study examined both the short term and the long term effects of television advertising on the development of adolescents' consumption-related orientations. Questionnaires were administered to 556 adolescents in a number of schools in a southern state; a second wave of questionnaires was administered to a subsample of 230 of these…

Compares the use of sentence weight and the T-unit in measuring the oral language of 32 adolescents. Indicates the relative merits of the T-unit as a measure of oral language, because the two measures appeared to give much the same information about the speech samples examined. (RL)

The value of "cultivation analysis" as a theoretical and analytic framework for investigating the effects of television has been questioned. This study suggests that of the viewing/reality variables, the most important is perceived law enforcement program realism, a variable generally excluded from cultivation analysis studies. (PD)

Reviews school-based approaches to prevention of adolescent alcohol use and abuse undertaken in the 1950s through the 1970s and discusses problems associated with such studies, remedies to these problems, and current school-based approaches. Also discusses the Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study, a longitudinal intervention undertaken in the 1980s to…

This article reviews the literature on early admission to college and describes two high-schools-within-college institutions. It critiques a paper by Dewey G. Cornell and others (EC 601 042) on predictive measurement of socioemotional adjustment of accelerated adolescent females. The article also questions the value of social adjustment for…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of reflection-impulsivity, verbal comprehension, and achievement motivation to level of moral development. Reflection-impulsivity is a cognitive style; verbal comprehension a measurement of intelligence. A random sample of 40 boys and 40 girls was selected from the senior classes of two…

Focusing on the family as a context for the development of life plans by youth, this report summarizes findings of a 14-year longitudinal study on the educational and occupational life plans and achievement of youth in rural low-income areas in six southeastern states. Specific attention is given to (1) how parental educational and occupational…