The risk of delinquent to antisocial behaviors among youth (teenagers) seem to be more prevalent in group homes than other foster homes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between negative peer influence and youth antisocial behaviors in group homes. Participants were 875 youth aged 10 to 17 at baseline (2010-2011). Logistic…

Much of the existing research on adolescent firearm and weapon carrying lacks a theoretical framework. Relatedly, few studies have examined the relationship between weapon carrying and bullying victimization experienced at school, which has been established as a key strain in adolescence. The present study seeks to provide a partial test of…

Adolescent marijuana use has become increasingly more problematic compared with the past; thus, understanding developmental processes that increase the liability of marijuana use is essential. Two developmental pathways to adolescent substance use have been proposed: an externalizing pathway that emphasizes the expression of aggressive and…

The goal of the present study was to replicate Burt et al. (2009) and Hou et al. (2013) findings by determining the contribution of peers' deviance to changes in participants' (monozygotic [MZ] twins') self-reported delinquency from mid- to late adolescence while controlling for possible gene-environment correlations (rGE) through the use of the…

Although teen dating violence (TDV) is internationally recognized as a serious threat to adolescents' health and well-being, almost no data is available for Slovenian youth. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and predictors of TDV among Slovenian adolescents for the first time. Using data from the SPMAD study (Study of…

The use of mental health-related intake assessments by juvenile correctional facilities as predictive measures of confinement behavior has seen limited use in recent years. This study employs the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Version 2 (MAYSI-2) and How I Think Questionnaire (HIT) as measurement tools on the same data set to assess the…

Youths who have deviant and delinquent friends are more likely to engage in delinquency. Interestingly, most quantitative studies of the association between deviant peers and deviant behavior have assumed that all peer connections have similar effects. Yet, it is possible that peer influence may vary depending on the characteristics of peers.…

This investigation examines the spread of problem behaviors (substance use and delinquency) between twin siblings. A sample of 628 twins (151 male twin pairs and 163 female twin pairs) drawn from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study completed inventories describing delinquency and substance use at ages 13, 14, and 15. A 3-wave longitudinal actor-partner…

Ecological studies, when the school is the unit of analysis, may help to design and evaluate school intervention programs. The paper discusses selected contextual determinants of bullying, using data collected in Poland in 2015 and aggregated to school level (4085 students; 70 junior high schools). The main hypothesis is related to the…

Background: Adolescence is a critical phase of development and experimentation with delinquent behaviors. There is a growing body of literature exploring individual and structural impacts of discrimination on health outcomes and delinquent behaviors. However, there is limited research assessing how school diversity and discrimination impact…

Drawing on the self-system model, this study conceptualized school engagement as a multidimensional construct, including behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, and examined whether changes in the three types of school engagement related to changes in problem behaviors from 7th through 11th grades (approximately ages 12-17). In addition,…

The present study examined the early parenting and temperament determinants of children's antisocial and positive behaviors in a low-income, diverse ethno-racial sample. Participants were from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, which included 960 European American (initial M age = 15.00 months; 51.2% female) and 880 African…

Despite evidence that American Indian (AI) adolescents are disproportionately involved in crime and delinquent behavior, there exists scant research exploring the correlates of crime among this group. We posit that Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) is well suited to explain AI delinquent activity. Using the National Longitudinal Study of…

Gang involvement is an increasing issue among Latino youth, yet nuanced research on its potential causes is scarce. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to explore links between acculturative stress and gang involvement among immigrant and U.S.-born Latino middle school students (N = 199). Regression analyses showed that U.S.-born youths…

Internal and external coalition functioning is an important predictor of coalition success that has been linked to perceived coalition effectiveness, coalition goal achievement, coalition ability to support evidence-based programs, and coalition sustainability. Understanding which aspects of coalition functioning best predict coalition success…