Data from 1,087 adolescent participants in three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to examine the effects of peer selection and socialization processes in adolescence on later reports of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unintended pregnancies. Friends' attitudes and behavior were assessed with…

Research has demonstrated that adolescent peer group affiliations are consistent predictors of substance use initiation and maintenance; it is less clear how adolescent "romantic" relationships influence substance use behavior. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Participants in the final dataset…

Although peer networks have been implicated as influential in a range of adolescent behaviors, little is known about relationships between peer network structures and risk for intimate partner violence (IPV) among youth. This study is a descriptive analysis of how peer network "types" may be related to subsequent risk for IPV…

School connectedness is the belief by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals. Students are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and succeed academically when they feel connected to school. This article identifies specific actions schools can take to increase school…

Emerging evidence suggests that variants of specific genes may influence some youths to seek out or associate with antisocial peers. Using genotypic data (N = 1,816) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (J. R. Udry, 1998, 2003), the authors tested this possibility. They found that the 10R allele of the dopamine transporter…

This research examines the effects of school racial and ethnic composition on students' academic achievement in the U.S. using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and hierarchical linear models. This analysis includes Hispanics, which stands apart from other research in this area that has traditionally focused on only Black and…

Using two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examines the impact of recent residential mobility on adolescent violence. A unique focus of our analysis is an examination of the ability of various mechanisms, including parent-child relationships, psychological distress, experiences of victimization,…

The fact that crime and victimization share similar correlates suggests that family and peer contexts are potentially useful for explaining individual differences in violent victimization. In this research, we used routine activities and lifestyles frameworks to reveal how strong bonds of family attachment can promote more effective guardianship…

Latent variable mixture modeling was used to identify subgroups of adolescents with distinct profiles of risk factors from individual, family, peer, and broader contextual domains. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Four-class models provided the most theoretically meaningful solutions for both 7th (n = 907;…

"Acting white" was once a label used by scholars, writing in obscure journals, to characterize academically inclined, but allegedly snobbish, minority students who were shunned by their peers. Now that it has entered the national consciousness--perhaps even its conscience--the term has become a slippery, contentious phrase that is used…