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Abstract The purpose of this research, conducted with a sample of young people in three New Zealand youth justice residential facilities, was to explore the compulsory school experience as perceived [...]

Prior studies have suggested that living in high-risk neighborhoods is associated with youths' maladjustment. Youths who maintained favorable outcomes, despite being exposed to such neighborhood risks, were considered resilient. Using structural equation modeling techniques, longitudinal data of 877 youths from the Denver Youth Survey were examined to identify predictors of resilience, longitudinal interrelations among predictors, and bi-directional relationships between resilience and life context factors. Resilience was longitudinally predicted by bonding to family and teachers, involvement in extracurricular activities, lower levels of parental discord, fewer adverse life events, and being less involved with delinquent peers. A positive feedback loop was found, in which resilience predicted further resilience. Early intervention to strengthen traditional bonding, decrease involvement with delinquent peers, and reduce the effects of adverse life events and parental discord may be essential in enhancing functioning of high-risk youths. Keywords Resilience * Risk and protective factors * Drug use and delinquency * Parental discord and adverse life events * Bonding to family and teachers DOI 10.1007/s10826-009-9307-5

This study examines adolescent substance use in relation to family, peer and school factors in the context of Taiwan. Information on family characteristics, satisfaction with performance at school, and peer influence was collected using a case-control study in which a two-stage method was applied to ascertain substance use. A set of hypotheses on interrelationships of substance use (tobacco, alcohol, betel, illicit drugs) and influences were tested with a structural equation model. There was a strong negative relation between family factors and peer relationships (p = 0.005). Family variables played an important role in motivation and effort to study (p = 0.004). High motivation and effort to study (p = 0.0012) and good school adjustment (p = 0.078) led to higher satisfaction with performance at school. A significant positive association between peer relationships and deviant peer behaviour was observed (p Keywords: Taiwan; Adolescents; Substance use; Family influence; Latent variable; Pathway analysis

Analyses from a national sample of high school students are used to examine the direct and conditional associations between juvenile delinquency and weight-related variables. Results indicate that in future risk and protective factors for unhealthy weight control behaviors and perceptions among delinquents must be examined as juvenile delinquents are more likely than nondelinquents to use fasting, vomiting and drugs to lose weight or to maintain weight.

This study examines the association between engagement in daily challenges and school misconduct in a sample of adolescents. Engagement is assessed by the amount of time spent in challenging activities and in terms of subjective ratings of success in daily challenges. Analyses employ data from a study in which adolescents provided self-reports of their immediate experience over the course of 1 week in response to signals generated at random times by alarm wristwatches. Analyses also test whether the number of opportunities for engagement in school activities is associated with misconduct. Because adolescents who face substantial adversity at home or at school are at particular risk for increased misconduct, associations are tested separately for high- and low-adversity adolescents. Results indicate that both time in daily challenge and perceived success in daily challenge are independently associated with reduced misconduct, and that these associations are slightly more pronounced for high (as compared to low) adversity adolescents. Extracurricular opportunities were shown to be associated with reductions in misconduct for high- but not low-adversity adolescents. Among high adversity adolescents, opportunity for engagement and perceived success in daily challenge were not only associated with reduced misconduct in cross-sectional analyses but also were predictive of reductions in misconduct over time. KEY WORDS: adolescent misconduct; challenge; experience sampling; resilience.

Low tonic skin conductance level (SCL) has been related, inconsistently, to both delinquency and sensation-seeking. This study tests the hypothesis that there is an interaction such that high sensation seeking delinquents, in particular, have low SCLs. Participants consisted of 335 boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study classified as serious delinquents or controls based upon 10 years of prospectively collected self-report delinquency data. Participants' skin conductance was evaluated at age 16 along with several personality and neuropsychological measures. Both delinquency and sensation seeking were characterized by low SCL. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the presence of both of these factors together lead to especially low skin conductance levels. This finding is not explained by differences between the groups on measures of negative emotionality, IQ, socioeconomic status, or impulsivity. KEY WORDS: recidivists; skin conductance; antisocial; stimulation-seeking; arousal.

Coercive parent-child interaction, child oppositional behavior, and parental reinforcement contingencies for child misbehavior were observed before and after treatment in the families of 46 boys referred for serious conduct problems. Reliable preto posttreatment reductions in coercive interaction and child noncompliance, and reliable increases in parental reinforcement of constructive child behavior, were found. Posttreatment parental contingencies for coercive child behavior predicted child arrests over the subsequent 2 years. Children from families whose observed posttreatment coercive interaction, parental contingencies, and child compliance failed to reach levels observed in nonreferred, normative families were more likely to evidence arrests and out-of-home placement during the 2 years after treatment. The implications of using observational data to identify critical mechanisms that mediate change in child antisocial behavior as a result of behavioral parent training are described in terms of developmental theory, the dosage of intervention, and the development of more powerful interventions for child conduct problems.

This article compares proactive and reactive forms of aggression in children. Topics include juvenile delinquency, depression, behavior disorder, and personality.

A study of 9342 Norwegian teenagers showed that the same set of risk factors indicating future juvenile delinquency applied to both girls and boys. These risk factors include peer influence, family problems and leisure activities. However, the study showed that boys were more prone to turning to theft, vandalism and defiance.

Alcohol use has been linked to other substance use and delinquency in adolescents. However, few studies have examined variations in these relationships in representative subsamples of gender, age and racial/ethnic groups. Respondents in this study were 19,321 New York State 7-12th grade students. After controlling for significant sociodemographic factors in a regression analysis, all of the alcohol measures remained strong predictors of both delinquency and illicit drug use. Significant interactions between alcohol measures and gender, age and racial/ethnic groups were also found. For example, the relationship between binge drinking and delinquency was stronger for males than females. The relationships between alcohol measures and both delinquency and illicit drug use were stronger for younger adolescents than older adolescents. American Indians showed an added risk over other groups of being delinquent and using illicit drugs if they began drinking at an early age. Prevention efforts to delay initiation into alcohol use are likely to have effects not only on alcohol misuse but also on the development of other substance use and delinquency.

This article discusses the relationship between gender, personality, community, and violence in young adults. Topics include drug use, antisocial behavior, and ethnicity.

This article discusses the relationship between race, gender, and delinquency among high risk youths. Topics include attitude, drug abuse, and social development.

Research has shown several factors increase the likelihood of early onset of offending; however, interactions among prenatal risk factors and sociological factors in predicting early onset have been a neglected area of research. The purpose of this study was to test the interactive effect of maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and the absence of the father from the household in predicting early onset of offending. The longitudinal data utilized for this study of 215 inner-city, African-American youth offenders were taken from the Philadelphia portion of the Collaborative Perinatal Project. A logistic regression analysis indicated that the combined effect of maternal cigarette smoking and absence of father from the household had a significant influence in predicting early onset of offending beyond the direct effects of the independent variables while controlling for sex of youth.

A mother's marital status or young age at her child's birth may place her child at greater risk for delinquency during the child's teen years. Birth characteristics were compared between 13,573 youths aged 10 to 17 found guilty of a crime and 38,387 matched non-offenders. Children of either gender born to unmarried or teenage mothers were more likely to commit one or more crimes as those children born to married or older mothers. The risk for juvenile delinquency was 11 times higher for males with unmarried teenage mothers compared to males with older married mothers., Background. The early identification of risk factors for juvenile offending is one important step in preventing youth violence and offending. This cohort study examined whether perinatal circumstances predicted offending during adolescence. Methods. Washington State birth certificates from 1974 to 1975 were linked to juvenile justice data to identify all individuals adjudicated between 10 and 17 years of age. Thirteen thousand five hundred seventy-three offenders were compared with a sample of 38 387 nonoffenders matched on gender and birth order. Results. Both male and female children of mothers who were teenagers at the child's birth or at her first birth, or who were born to unmarried mothers, had significantly increased risk for any juvenile offending, and for being adjudicated for five or more crimes (chronic offending). Males born to unmarried mothers under 18 years old had an 11-fold increased risk of chronic offending compared with males born to married mothers [is greater than or equal to] 20 years old. Low birth weight and preterm gestational age carried no increased risk for juvenile offending. Conclusions. Birth to teenage or unmarried mothers are strongly associated with later risk of juvenile delinquency. Although there are multiple, interrelated risk factors for juvenile delinquency, prevention of births to teenage and/or unmarried mothers may help to prevent subsequent juvenile delinquency. Pediatrics 1997; 99:785-790; delinquency, youth violence, teenage pregnancy, unmarried mothers., ABBREVIATIONS. JUVIS, Juvenile Information System; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. The problem of youth violence has become of increasing concern in the United States, including the public health and [...]

Lead exposure may predispose young children to antisocial behavior and delinquency. Researchers asked the parents and teachers of 301 grade-school boys to rate the child's behavior at the age of 7 and 11 using questionnaires that measure antisocial tendencies. The boys were also asked to rate themselves. X-ray fluorescence was used to measure the lead concentration in the boy's bones at the age of 11. Compared to boys with low lead levels, boys with high lead levels were rated by their parents and teachers as more aggressive and as having other problems such as health complaints, attention problems and delinquent behavior. The boys with high lead levels rated themselves as having more behavioral problems. Parents and teachers reported that behavioural problems in boys with high lead levels had gotten worse between the ages of 7 and 11. The association between high lead levels and antisocial behavior remained when the data were adjusted for other social and family factors.

This study examines the overall and relative contributions of a variety of family environment measures to a child's alcohol, marijuana and other drug use, delinquent activity, and dysfunctional methods of coping with problems. The family environment variables tapped aspects of parental behaviors and attitudes, parenting styles, and family harmony and cohesion. Data were collected as part of a prospective, longitudinal study that examined the acquisition and maintenance of a variety of behaviors. Data were gleaned at two points in time, spanning 3-year intervals, from subjects ranging in age from early to late adolescence. In general, alcohol use among the younger subjects was more strongly determined by the use and attitudes of the same sex parent. In contrast, among older subjecs, father's alcohol use was important to the offspring's use. While models predicting illicit drug use and the extent of problems related to alcohol and marijuana use fared least well, it was generally found that hostility and lack of warmth on the part of the parents contributed most to these outcomes in subjects. Finally, hostility displayed by both parents helped to determine the incidence of delinquency among sons and the use of dysfunctional coping methods among sons and daughters., Parents clearly influence the behavior of their children in many ways. The discipline parents provide, the type of relationships they develop with the children, and the behavior they exhibit all have an influence. Researchers investigated the influence of the parents and the family environment on children's alcohol and drug use, dysfunctional patterns of coping, and delinquent activity. A large group of New Jersey adolescents was interviewed by phone at two different times, three years apart. Between 1979 and 1981, 1,380 subjects aged 12, 15, and 18 were interviewed; three years later, 95 percent of them (1,308 subjects) were interviewed again. Topics covered in the interviews included family harmony and cohesion, parenting styles, and the attitudes and behaviors of parents. The results showed that the alcohol consumption of the younger children was influenced by the alcohol use and attitudes of the parent of the same sex as the child; however, older adolescents were most strongly affected (in terms of their own drinking) by the father's alcohol use. Parental hostility and lack of warmth toward the children was associated with the latter's use of drugs and alcohol. When both parents exhibited hostility, sons were at increased risk for delinquency and both sons and daughters had a higher rate of dysfunctional coping styles. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.), INTRODUCTION It is generally accepted that during childhood, parents are important facilitators of the socialization process through supervision and discipline practices and by providing examples of behaviors. Kandel and Andrews [...]

Peer acceptance, social behavior, and long-term adjustment appear to be linked. Peer interactions are important in the development of social competence in children, which in turn leads to long-term adjustment. There are studies that have used teacher judgments regarding social acceptance and behavior, and there are studies that rely on peer judgments. The two resources' judgments correlate only moderately. Peer ratings are preferred for measures of social acceptance, but it is not clear which rating is better when measuring social behavior. The validity of teacher measures of social behavior for predicting adjustment has not been well studied. This is surprising since teachers, next to parents, are the most frequent observers of young children. One hundred ninety-eight (69 well-adjusted, 64 socially withdrawn, and 65 socially aggressive) subjects (as nominated by their teachers) were followed for five years. Data were assessed including school records, court records, teacher-reports, peer nominations, and self-reports five years after nomination. Significant differences among groups were found on a variety of measures. Well-adjusted children continued to outperform withdrawn children. Withdrawn children received lower sociometric ratings, fewer positive nominations from peers, and were more likely to be labelled as rejected or neglected. They were three times more likely to have dropped out of school and twice as likely to display delinquent behavior. These findings differ from those that show no such disparity between withdrawn and well-adjusted children. Aggressive children were identified five years later as poorly adjusted, delinquent, and likely to have dropped out of school. In contrast to withdrawn children, they were rated as less likeable by peers and categorized as rejected or controversial. There was a high incidence of psychiatric disturbance as measured by attentional disorders. In comparison with withdrawn children, aggressive children were more severely disturbed and viewed their own behavior as disturbed. Thus the groups of aggressive children and withdrawn children were both at risk but not at equal risk. The predictive value of teacher ratings is pending the attainment of high school age by evaluated children. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

This article examines the risk factors and prevalence of substance abuse, aggression, and delinquency among inner-city minority youth. The authors, analzying results from a survey administered to 6 graders from 42 New York City schools, maintain aggression was reported most frequently, followed by delinquent behavior, alcohol use, and smoking with predictors varying due to demographic, environmental, and social variables.

This article explores female delinquents' perspectives of factors that lead to delinquent behavior. The authors maintain the majority of the respondents listed family problems, running away, abuse issues, and substance abuse as major risk factors, and a minority of the girls listed gang and violence issues.

This article examines risk factors related to school removal and juvenile deliquency with a focus on gender and socio-economics. The authors, maintaining factors varied?across gender but not socio-economics, conclude that early school removal is?a risk factor for juvenile deliquency and?teenage pregnancy for girls living in poverty.

Prevention science has suggested that preventive interventions should reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors. Recently, some researchers have proposed that preventive interventions focused on enhancing protective factors and promoting [...]

Adolescents whose parents are enrolled in welfare-to-work programs have been negatively affected by these programs, according to a report published by Child Trends. The authors state, "Our analysis leads us […]

This descriptive study examines the self-reported behaviors of 285 male and female adolescent children (ages 12-17) of narcotic addicts participating in methadone maintenance programs. These children responded to an extensive 2.5-hour interview questionnaire focusing on current and past activities, including criminal activities prior to age 12. The findings revealed that early deviance, assessed by self-report measures of both severity and variety, is related to current adolescent drug and alcohol use, association with deviant peers, a negative view of home atmosphere, and psychological symptomatology. These results are contrasted with the retrospective reports of adolescent behavior obtained from adult male narcotic addicts in a prior study of vulnerability to addiction. The comparability of study results is discussed in the context of developmental risk factors, prevention and treatment strategies, and other considerations specifically related to the development of children of narcotic addicts., INTRODUCTION There is considerable evidence in the literature that poor parental and family functioning are among the most powerful predictors of juvenile conduct problems and delinquency (1, 2). Results of [...]