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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 control/monitoring of adolescent behaviors and parent-child communication about sex, assessed in adolescence, were related to condom use in late adolescence/early adulthood among African American (n = 1,986), Chinese American (n = 163), Mexican American (n = 1,011) and White (n = 6,971) youth. Controlling for demographic variables and number of sex partners, the results showed that family support was positively related and parent-child communication was negatively related to condom use for the sample as a whole and for the white sample, but not for the other groups. Parent-child communication about sex and parental control were negatively related to condom use in the Chinese American sample. None of the family factors was related to condom use in the African American or Mexican American samples. Overall, parents talked more with daughters than sons about sexual matters. Condom use was most common among African Americans and among males. Greater attention to cultural expectations regarding sex and gender roles, as well as the causal ordering of effects, are important directions for future research.

Increased awareness of the importance of tailoring interventions to participants' cultures has focused attention on the limited generalizability of a single test of an intervention to determine efficacy. Adaptation is often necessary to replicate interventions across cultures. This produces a tension between fidelity to the original intervention and adaptations necessary to make the intervention relevant to the culture and circumstances of participants. This article discusses issues that arise during the course of replication, with illustrations from a replication to test the efficacy of an HIV prevention intervention for youth, using a randomized controlled design. Analysis of the issues raised leads us to suggest that a "science of replication" needs to be developed.

Research suggests that adult marriages confer benefits. Does marriage following a teenage birth confer benefits similar to those observed for adults? Longitudinal data from a community sample of 235 young women who gave birth as unmarried adolescents were used to examine this question. Controlling for socioeconomic status and preexisting "benefits," we found that marriage conferred small, though statistically significant, benefits with regard to less economic adversity and less marijuana and polydrug use but no observable benefits with regard to alcohol or other drug use, poverty, psychological well-being, or high school completion, in contrast to prior findings. We conclude that in addition to the marriage benefits observed, stable intimate relationships, whether marital or not, appear to confer psychological benefits in this sample.

The development of preventive interventions targeting adolescent problem behaviors requires a thorough understanding of risk and protective factors for such behaviors. However, few studies examine whether different cultural and ethnic groups share these factors. This study is an attempt to fill a gap in research by examining similarities and differences in risk factors across racial and ethnic groups. The social development model has shown promise in organizing predictors of problem behaviors. This article investigates whether a version of that model can be generalized to youth in different racial and ethnic groups (N=2,055, age range from 11 to 15), including African American (n=478), Asian Pacific Islander (API) American (n=491), multiracial (n=442), and European American (n=644) youth. The results demonstrate that common risk factors can be applied to adolescents, regardless of their race and ethnicity. The findings also demonstrate that there are racial and ethnic differences in the magnitudes of relationships among factors that affect problem behaviors. Further study is warranted to develop a better understanding of these differential magnitudes.

Investigated individual characteristics and peer influences related to adolescents' sexual behavior, considering gender and sexual experience. Students reported on intentions to engage in sexual activity and use condoms in the next year, amount of pressure to engage in sexual activity, and perceptions about the number of their peers engaging in sexual activity. Responses differed by gender and sexual experience status. (SM)

Compared self-administered diaries and telephone interviews as ways of collecting data from 100 adults and adolescents in a survey of drinking, drug use, and sexual activity. Outlines advantages of each method and the higher personnel costs of telephone interviews. (SLD)

Used an empowerment perspective to consider the degree to which intrapersonal and interpersonal power dynamics in heterosexual relations have an impact on condom use among high risk youth. Results from 333 African American and European American urban youth show the model to be most useful in predicting condom use among female participants. (SLD)

Used Theory of Reasoned Action to investigate the cognitive structure underlying substance use through interviews with mothers 17 years old or younger during pregnancy. Found that substance use was lowest during pregnancy, increased sharply at 6 months postpartum, and remained level at 12 months. Changes in intentions, attitudes, perceived social norms, outcome beliefs, and normative beliefs followed same pattern. (EV)

Examined contention that diverse adolescent problem behaviors reflect single underlying dimension of behavior in 426 preadolescent sixth graders. By using confirmatory factor analyses to test competing models, multiple factor structures were detected, suggesting that earlier findings supporting single factor conceptualization may not be generalizable to this age group. (Author/NB)

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6155.2010.00248.x Byline: Angela Chia-Chen Chen (1), Bonnie Gance-Cleveland (2), Albert Kopak (3), Steven Haas (4), Mary Rogers Gillmore (5) Keywords: Family-centered care; Latino youth; substance use prevention Abstract: Angela Chia-Chen Chen, Bonnie Gance-Cleveland, Albert Kopak, Steven Haas, and Mary GillmoreColumn Editor: Bonnie Gance-Cleveland Family-Centered Care provides a forum for sharing information about basic components of caring for children and families, including respect, information sharing, collaboration, family-to-family support, and confidence building. Author Affiliation: (1)Arizona State UniversityCollege of Nursing & Health InnovationPhoenix, Arizona, USA (2)Center for Improving Health Outcomes in Children, Teens, and FamiliesArizona State UniversityCollege of Nursing and Health InnovationPhoenix, Arizona, USA (3)Department of Criminology and Criminal JusticeWestern Carolina UniversityCullowhee, North Carolina, USA (4)School of Social and Family DynamicsArizona State UniversityTempe, Arizona, USA (5)School of Social WorkArizona State UniversityPhoenix, Arizona, USA Article note: Author contact: angela.ccchen@asu.edu, with a copy to the Editor: roxie.foster@UCDenver.edu

Objective: Retrospective reports of the association between drinking and high-risk sexual behavior can be biased by implicit theories of the effects of drinking or may represent post hoc justifications instead of accurate reports of behavior. Using data from a daily diary study, we compared daily reports of condom use when drinking and not drinking with the same participants' reports of these behaviors from a retrospective questionnaire administered after diary collection was complete. Method: Participants included adolescents (n = 145), adult sexually transmitted disease clinic clients (n = 167), college students (n = 145), and men who have sex with men (n = 147). All participants reported their alcohol consumption and sexual activity daily for 8 weeks and then completed a retrospective questionnaire about their behavior over the diary period. Results: Participants' retrospective judgments about whether they used condoms more or less when drinking were not significantly related to their behavior as reported in the diary. Fewer than two thirds of the participants were accurate in their recollection of the association of condom use and drinking. Teenagers and men who have sex with men were more likely to retrospectively overestimate the negative effect of alcohol on condom use. Conclusions: Retrospective questions about the association between drinking and condom use were consistent with actual behavior only among people who consistently either never or always used condoms. These individuals correctly reported that drinking had no effect on their condom use. For people whose condom use varies, questions about associations between drinking and sex may be difficult to answer, owing to their conditional nature, and may lead to error., RESEARCH ON FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH high-risk sexual behavior for disease transmission has suggested that drinking alcohol at the time of sexual activity is related to the occurrence of unprotected sex. [...]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00298.x Byline: Blair Beadnell (a), Sharon A. Baker (a), Mary Rogers Gillmore (b), Diane M. Morrison (a), Bu Huang (a), Sorrel Stielstra (a) Abstract: Although the majority of prevention efforts have focused on women, reduction of heterosexual transmission of STDs also requires interventions for men, necessitating understanding of men's safer sex decision making. In a random sample of 486 heterosexually active men, the theory of reasoned action (TRA) was used to predict intentions to use condoms with casual partners, as well as 2 steady-partner safer sex behaviors: mutual monogamy and condom use. The basic TRA model fit the data well. Expanded models identified the mediated (via attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy) and, for some, direct effects on intentions and behavior of selected intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociocultural variables. Results suggest that the role of external variables might vary depending on the behaviors in question. Author Affiliation: (a)School of Social WorkUniversity of Washington (b)School of Social Work, College of Public ProgramsArizona State University Article note: (2) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Blair Beadnell, School of Social Work, University of Washington, 4101 15th Avenue, NE, Seattle, WA 98105-6299. E-mail: blairb@u.washington.edu

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00285.x Byline: Blair Beadnell (2a), Anthony Wilsdon (a), Elizabeth A. Wells (a), Diane M. Morison (a), Mary Rogers Gillmore (b), Marilyn Hoppe (a) Abstract: This study tested the theory of planned behavior's (TPB) expectation that attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy would mediate other variables' effects on intention for having sex and probability of having sex. Longitudinal data were collected from 790 high-school-aged adolescents. In an intrapersonal variable model, sensation seeking, alcohol use, hard work, smoking, and moral beliefs had mediated effects, but the last 2 also had direct effects (on intention and behavior, respectively). In an interpersonal model, school attachment had mediated effects, pressure to have sex had a direct effect on behavior, and parent communication and number of sexually active friends had both. Intrapersonal variable effects were better described by the TPB than those of interpersonal variables. Targeting distal psychosocial factors may enhance intervention efficacy. Author Affiliation: (a)School of Social WorkUniversity of Washington (b)School of Social Work, College of Public ProgramsArizona State University Article note: (2) Correspondence concerning this article should be directed to Blair Beadnell, School of Social Work, 4101 15th Avenue, NE, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105. E-mail: blairb@u.washington.edu

Rates and patterns of substance use and violent behaviors among multiracial adolescents were examined and compared with 3 monoracial groups, European, African, and Asian Americans. The relationships between ethnic identity and the subjective experience of racial discrimination, substance use, and violent behavior were also examined. The authors found multiracial adolescents reporting higher rates of problem behaviors. Several significant relationships between ethnic identity and racial discrimination were found with these problem behaviors.

This research examined the applicability of the theory of reasoned action to school-age children. Using structural equation modeling, we longitudinally modeled children's attitudes, norms, intentions, and behavior with regard to drinking alcohol. Respondents were 1,061 children attending public schools in the northwestern United States. Attitude, norms, and intentions (measured when the children were in 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades) were used to predict alcohol use 1 year later. Two modifications of the model improved the overall fit at each grade level: separating attitude into 2 dimensions (positive and negative), and adding a path from social norm to behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

This paper reports the results of a study in which age (grade level), racial/ethnic, and gender differences in beliefs and perceived norms about drinking were examined in a multi-ethnic urban sample of 4th through 7th grade children. Results showed that older children held beliefs and perceived norms that were more favorable toward drinking than younger children. The major difference between older and younger children lay in their differential estimates of the likelihood of certain consequences occurring and not in their evaluation of these consequences of drinking. Further, older children riot only displayed less motivation to comply with their parents and greater motivation to comply with their peers, but they also perceived their parents, as well as their peers, as less disapproving of drinking than did younger children. There were few gender or race/ethnicity differences at these ages in children's beliefs and perceived norms about drinking., INTRODUCTION There is mounting evidence that alcohol expectancies (beliefs about the effects of alcohol) play an important etiological role in the initiation and maintenance of adolescent drinking (1-6). Alcohol expectancies [...]

This research examines the applicability of Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action (TRA) to intentions to use cigarettes and alcohol among 5th- and 6th-grade students. It also addresses the question of unidimensionality of outcome beliefs and referent norms. Results suggest that the TRA model describes children's decision making well, although the ability of income and race to add to prediction, net of the effects of attitude and perceived norm, are contrary to the theory's prediction. In addition, we find support for multidimensional components of both attitude and norm for both behaviors.

The research presents tests of traditional and augmented versions of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), applied to condom use among adult clients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic. In a longitudinal survey, predictor variables suggested by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), plus gender and condom use self-efficacy, were measured at Time 1. Condom use at Time 2, 3 months later, was regressed onto these variables. The traditional TRA worked well to predict condom use intentions and behavior. Support was also found for inclusion of gender and self-efficacy in the prediction of intention to use condoms, but not behavior. Implications for interventions to increase condom use among those at high risk for AIDS and other STDs are discussed.

An experiment was carried out wherein six items were given to a multiethnic sample of middle school age participants in a group delivered safer sex intervention to find out their reliability and validity. It was seen that at the within-group level the association between baseline friendship scores and cost concurrently and subsequently measured items were positive and statistically significant.