Considerable research has addressed whether various academic factors affect involvement in delinquent behavior among youth. Yet few studies have assessed the association between academic underachievement and delinquency. Academic underachievement is defined as school performance, such as measured by grades, that falls below what is predicted by…

This study examined the relationship between developmental assets during early and mid-adolescence and early adult sexual behaviors among American Indians using a subsample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 465). Grounded in an assets framework, the authors explored the protective role of personal, family, school, and…

Youth violence is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among Blacks and Latinos. Violent behaviors within Latino subgroups and the reasons for subgroup differences are not well understood. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 16,615), this study examined the risk for violent behaviors among an ethnically…

An emerging literature suggests that the increasingly complex family histories of American children are linked with multiple domains of adolescent development. Much of this scholarship focuses on associations at the individual level. Here, the authors consider whether key dimensions of the school context, specifically the aggregate level of family…

Although suicide-related outcomes among Asian American adolescents are a serious public health problem in the United States, research in this area has been relatively sparse. To address this gap in the empirical literature, this study examined subgroups of Asian American adolescents for whom family, school, and peer relationships exerted…

We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine transitions among alcohol use classes in 2225 White and African American adolescent girls, and race differences in predictors of transition into and out of problematic drinking classes. Latent class analysis confirmed four classes for White girls and three for AA…

Existing research suggests that sexual minority youth experience lower levels of well-being, in part because they perceive less social support than heterosexual youth. Sexual minority youth with strong family relationships may demonstrate resilience and increased well-being; however, it is also possible that the experience of sexual stigma may…

Several U.S. social policies identify kinship care as the preferred out-of-home placement. However, financial assistance to defray the cost of kinship caregiving is limited. One option is the child-only welfare grant. This study investigates kinship households' eligibility for, utilization of, and educational benefits associated with these grants.…

I investigate the differences between Hispanic high school graduates, both male and female, who chose not to attend college, who chose to initially enroll into a two-year college, or who chose to initially enroll into a four-year college or university. The 1994-1995 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was used to determine how family…

Studies show that positive family factors help protect adolescents from engaging in risky sexual activities, but do they continue to protect adolescents as they transition to late adolescence/early adulthood? Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examined whether family support, parent-child closeness, parental…

We used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 7,686) to determine whether racial and ethnic differences in socioeconomic stress and social protection explained group differences in the association between family structure instability and three risk behaviors for White, Black, and Mexican American adolescents:…

Some recent studies suggest that sexual minorities may have worse health-related outcomes during adolescence because they report lower levels of family connectedness, a key protective resource. Using data from wave 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 11,153; 50.6% female; mean age = 21.8 years), this study extends prior…

This study examines the links between adolescent family context and coming to see oneself as an adult. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors investigate how adolescent family structure, resources, and processes together influence adult identity and whether they do so similarly for men and women. The…

Issues with adolescents with intellectual disabilities have received little attention in the research literature. This study compared adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities on several indices of psychosocial adjustment. The participants were selected from a large longitudinal database and comparisons were made at three points in…

The question of whether family structure consequences on school achievement are the same across racial and ethnic groups is examined using longitudinal data on 10,606 teens from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Based on life course theory, this article uses indicators of the family structure trajectory, such as family…