Introduction: Based on internal and external assets, the positive youth development approach aims to increase the capacity among adolescents to overcome challenges as they transition to adulthood. Developmental assets have been found to be positively associated with academic achievement, a variety of health promoting behaviors, and improved…

Introduction: Disparities in cardiovascular diseases are one of today's most important public health challenges. Pathological processes related to modifiable cardiovascular risk factors have shown to begin in childhood and disparities in these risk factors have been reported in adolescence. Food insecurity is significantly associated with…

Research has documented that children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk of substance use problems. Few studies, however, have focused on early-onset substance use. This study therefore investigated how the two symptom dimensions of ADHD (hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention) are…

Does success in school protect teenagers from drug use? Does drug use impair scholastic success? This book tackles a key issue in adolescent development and health--the education-drug use connection. The authors examine the links and likely causal connections between educational experiences, delinquent behavior, and adolescent use of tobacco,…

The authors test biosocial models that posit interactions between biological variables (testosterone, estradiol, pubertal status, and pubertal timing) and social context variables (family, peer, school, and neighborhood) in predicting adolescent involvement with cigarettes and alcohol in a sample of 409 adolescents in Grades 6 and 8. Models…

The primary aims of this report are to (1) identify the incidence of daily smoking at several time points during the adolescent and young adult years, including the prevalence of new daily smokers relative to repeat daily smokers; (2) identify several specific developmental patterns of smoking; and (3) examine the specific developmental patterns…