This study examined the effects of pubertal status, pubertal timing (actual and perceived), and youth biological sex on symptom dimensions of anxiety (i.e., social, separation, harm avoidance, physical) in African Americans (n = 252; ages 8-12). For girls, results indicated that pubertal status and timing (actual) exerted similar effects for some…

While recent evidence has indicated that experienced racial discrimination is associated with increased depressive symptoms for African American adolescents, most studies rely on cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal research designs. As a result, the direction and persistence of this association across time remains unclear. This article…

A model of negative affect and alcohol use was replicated on a sample of African-American high school students. Participants (N = 5,086) were randomly selected from a previously collected data set and consisted of 2,253 males and 2,833 females residing in both rural and urban locations. Multivariate analysis of covariance and structural equation…

While the link between parenting and delinquency is well established, there is less consensus among scholars with regards to the processes that account for this link. The current study had two objectives. The first was to disentangle the effects of African American parents' use of corporal punishment and verbal abuse on the conduct problems of…

Research has documented a negative relationship between religion and risky sexual behavior. Few studies, however, have examined the processes whereby religion exerts this effect. The present study develops and tests a model of various mechanisms whereby parental religiosity reduces the likelihood of adolescents' participation in risky sexual…

This study examined the role of mother-adolescent emotional reciprocity in connections between marital conflict and adolescent aggression with peers. Data were collected from a racially diverse community sample of 268 adolescents and their mothers. Adolescents reported on parents' marital conflict, and mother-adolescent positive and negative…

Three waves of longitudinal data from a high poverty sample of 1544 African American youth were used to test an ecological-transactional model of violence. SEM analyses were conducted to determine whether parenting (Time 2) mediated the effects of exposure to violence (Time 1) on violent behaviors (Time 3). Findings supported the specified model.…

Faced with anywhere between one half and two thirds of its youth having a diagnosable mental illness, the identification and treatment of mental health concerns is a critically important endeavor for professionals working with youth who have contact with the juvenile justice system. In addition, the literature suggests that factors related to both…

A 5-year longitudinal study of African American adolescents, aged 10 to 12 at Time 1, used the prototype/willingness (prototype) model to examine the (social) cognitive effects of the onset of sexual behavior on self-concept. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that becoming sexually active was related to favorable changes in adolescents'…

The current study empirically examined predictors of level of voice (ethnicity, attachment, and gender role socialization) in a diverse sample of 108 14-year-old girls. Structural equation modeling results indicated that parental attachment predicted level of voice with authority figures, and gender role socialization predicted level of voice with…

Using data from the first 2 phases of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, the authors examine the links between maternal employment in the first 12 months of life and cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes for children at age 3, at age 4.5, and in first grade. Drawing on theory and prior research from developmental psychology as well as…

An adaptation of the Family Stress Model (FSM) with hypothesized linkages between family contextual factors, custodial grandmothers' psychological distress, parenting practices, and grandchildren's adjustment was tested with structural equation modeling. Interview data from 733 custodial grandmothers of grandchildren between ages 4-17 revealed…

Existing research leaves a gap in explaining why African American adolescents do not exhibit more anxiety and depression than other youth, at the same time that they experience more contextual risk factors. The current study examined the roles of social support as well as possible mediators self-esteem and ethnic identity (sense of belonging to…

This study examines program elements related to reductions in drug use and crime among Drug Treatment Courts (DTC) participants as well as theoretical mechanisms--increased social controls and improved perceptions of procedural justice--expected to mediate the effects of DTC on these outcomes. Data are from 157 research participants interviewed…

Validity data are presented for a new measure of threat appraisals in response to community violence. Adolescents (N = 358; 45% male; 91% African American, M = 12.10 years, SD = 1.63) and their maternal caregivers participated in two waves of a longitudinal interview study focused on the consequences of exposure to community violence. Structural…