The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents' motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study…

The long-term import of a fundamental challenge of adolescent social development--establishing oneself as a desirable peer companion while avoiding problematic behaviors often supported within peer groups--was examined in a community sample of 184 adolescents, followed from ages 13 to 23, along with parents, peers, and romantic partners. The…

As a nation built from the migration of peoples from every continent in the world, modern Australia developed a unique culture based on an egalitarian ethos. Recent research, however, suggests that social inequality is increasing and, in particular, social mobility is in decline. In this paper, I examine one aspect of social inequality that has…

Maternal and paternal psychological control, peer attitudes, and the interaction of psychological control and peer attitudes at age 13 were examined as predictors of risky sexual behavior before age 16 in a community sample of 181 youth followed from age 13 to 16. Maternal psychological control moderated the link between peer attitudes and sexual…

Project Advancing Cessation of Tobacco in Vulnerable Indian Tobacco Consuming Youth (ACTIVITY) is a community-based group randomized intervention trial focused on disadvantaged youth (aged 10-19 years) residing in 14 low-income communities (slums and resettlement colonies) in Delhi, India. This article discusses the findings of Focus Group…

This study examined alcohol use development from ages 13-20 years. The sample comprised 256 youth (50.4% female; 51.2% White, 48.8% African American) assessed annually for 6 years. A cohort-sequential latent growth model was used to model categorical alcohol use (non-use vs. use). Covariates included gender, race, income, parent marital status,…

This article proposes an extension of dominance analysis that allows researchers to determine the relative importance of predictors in logistic regression models. Criteria for choosing logistic regression R[superscript 2] analogues were determined and measures were selected that can be used to perform dominance analysis in logistic regression. A…

The academic performance of urban African American students continues to be a major concern. Academic achievement has been the main avenue to upward social mobility for African Americans. This study assesses the effect of attitudes, behavior, peers, and family on the academic performance of African American students living in urban public housing…

Disproportionately large numbers of Black youth experience repeated encounters with the juvenile justice system, and often these same youth present with a variety of school-related difficulties. Data from a sample of 842 Black males, assessed in five Ohio juvenile courts using the Global Risk Assessment Device (GRAD), are used to describe the…

Examines the importance of peer influence and personal attitudes in relation to self-reported use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana for 213 younger adolescents and 219 older adolescents. Friends' use was significantly related to substance use for both age groups, both sexes, and all substances examined. Resistance self- efficacy was…

Interpersonal influences on the desire to have a child were examined in a sample of pregnant low-income urban adolescents. It was hypothesized that adolescent girls who report poorer relationships with their parents would report greater emotional reliance on their boyfriends and greater reliance on boyfriends would predict greater desire for a…

Despite the success of many drug and alcohol prevention programs, drug and alcohol use by adolescents continues to be a problem. One important factor in preventing drug and alcohol use may be determining, in a non-intrusive manner, which students are most at risk for drug involvement. In the present study, the predictive relationship between…

The purpose of this study was: (1) to determine whether attitudes are a better predictor of adolescents' intentions to use dietary supplements than are subjective norms, and (2) to assess the influence of significant others on attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions among adolescent athletes. Results indicated that attitudes were a better…

Explores the interplay of various factors that may jointly predict the frequency of drug use and the intention for further use. Drug-use prevalence data for 969 adolescents, high school students, and imprisoned offenders linked drug-use frequencies with psychosocial variables such as disinhibition, peer drug use, peer pressure, and other factors.…

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health provide modest support for an association between adolescents' expectations for their future health and educational attainment and their risk-taking behaviors involving early sexual intercourse, selling drugs, and weapon use. Noteworthy "school climate" predictors were found,…