Demographic differences in self-report pubertal status among rural adolescents in the US

While sex and racial/ethnic differences in pubertal development have been noted, most of this research has been in urban areas

A systematic review of the unique prospective association of negative affect symptoms and adolescent substance use controlling for externalizing symptoms.

This systematic review examines whether negative affect symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression, and internalizing symptoms more broadly) predict subsequent adolescent substance use after controlling for co-occurring externalizing symptoms. Following PRISMA procedures, we identified 61 studies that tested the association of interest. Findings varied depending on the type of negative affect symptom and to some extent on the substance use outcome. The most consistent associations were evident for depressive symptoms, particularly as predictors of substance use composite scores. No clear association between anxiety and substance use or between internalizing symptoms and substance use was evident, and indeed these associations were as often negative as positive. Mixed findings regarding the depression-substance use association, however, also call for greater attention to potential moderating factors that may help define who, when, and in what context depression serves as an important risk factor for later substance use above and beyond risk associated with externalizing symptoms

The Influence of Alcohol-Specific Communication on Adolescent Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Consequences

Alcohol-specific communication, a direct conversation between an adult and an adolescent regarding alcohol use, contains messages about alcohol relayed from the adult to the child. The current study examined the construct of alcohol-specific communication and the effect of messages on adolescent alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences. Parent-adolescent dyads were assessed biannually for 3 years (grades 9-11 at wave 6) to examine these relations in a large longitudinal study of adolescents initially in grades 6 through 8. An exploratory factor analysis identified two factors among alcohol-specific communication items, permissive messages and negative alcohol messages. Results showed previous level of adolescent alcohol use moderated the relation between permissive messages and alcohol use outcomes. Plotting of these interactions showed greater alcohol use and consequences with increasing permissive messages in adolescents with higher versus lower levels of previous alcohol use. Results suggest that parental messages regarding alcohol use may impact adolescent alcohol use beyond the effect of general parenting style and parental alcohol use

Predictors of Latent Trajectory Classes of Physical Dating Violence Victimization

This study identified classes of developmental trajectories of physical dating violence victimization from grades 8 to 12 and examined theoretically-based risk factors that distinguished among trajectory classes. Data were from a multi-wave longitudinal study spanning 8th through 12th grade (n = 2,566; 51.9% female). Growth mixture models were used to identify trajectory classes of physical dating violence victimization separately for girls and boys. Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions were used to identify situational and target vulnerability factors associated with the trajectory classes. For girls, three trajectory classes were identified: a low/non-involved class; a moderate class where victimization increased slightly until the 10th grade and then decreased through the 12th grade; and a high class where victimization started at a higher level in the 8th grade, increased substantially until the 10th grade, and then decreased until the 12th grade. For males, two classes were identified: a low/non-involved class, and a victimized class where victimization increased slightly until the 9th grade, decreased until the 11th grade, and then increased again through the 12th grade. In bivariate analyses, almost all of the situational and target vulnerability risk factors distinguished the victimization classes from the non-involved classes. However, when all risk factors and control variables were in the model, alcohol use (a situational vulnerability) was the only factor that distinguished membership in the moderate trajectory class from the non-involved class for girls; anxiety and being victimized by peers (target vulnerability factors) were the factors that distinguished the high from the non-involved classes for the girls; and victimization by peers was the only factor distinguishing the victimized from the non-involved class for boys. These findings contribute to our understanding of the heterogeneity in physical dating violence victimization during adolescence and the malleable risk factors associated with each trajectory class for boys and girls

A multidimensional model of mothers’ perceptions of parent alcohol socialization and adolescent alcohol misuse.

We assessed a multidimensional model of parent alcohol socialization in which key socialization factors were considered simultaneously to identify combinations of factors that increase or decrease risk for development of adolescent alcohol misuse. Of interest was the interplay between putative risk and protective factors, such as whether the typically detrimental effects on youth drinking of parenting practices tolerant of some adolescent alcohol use are mitigated by an effective overall approach to parenting and parental modeling of modest alcohol use. The sample included 1,530 adolescents and their mothers; adolescents’ mean age was 13.0 (SD = .99) at the initial assessment. Latent profile analysis was conducted of mothers’ reports of their attitude toward teen drinking, alcohol-specific parenting practices, parental alcohol use and problem use, and overall approach to parenting. The profiles were used to predict trajectories of adolescent alcohol misuse from early to middle adolescence. Four profiles were identified: two profiles reflected conservative alcohol-specific parenting practices and two reflected alcohol-tolerant practices, all in the context of other attributes. Alcohol misuse accelerated more rapidly from grade 6 through 10 in the two alcohol-tolerant compared with conservative profiles. Results suggest that maternal tolerance of some youth alcohol use, even in the presence of dimensions of an effective parenting style and low parental alcohol use and problem use, is not an effective strategy for reducing risky adolescent alcohol use

Letting Children Sip: Understanding Why Parents Allow Alcohol Use by Elementary School–aged Children

Early onset alcohol use is a risk factor for problem drinking during adolescence. This study investigated pro-sipping beliefs among parents and the relations between these beliefs, parents’ alcohol-specific attitude and practices, and children’s reports of alcohol use initiation

The Prevalence of Evidence-based Drug Use Prevention Curricula in U.S. Middle Schools in 2008

The No Child Left Behind Act mandates the implementation of evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools. The purpose of this paper is to estimate changes in the prevalence of such curricula from 2005 to 2008. We surveyed school staff in a nationally representative sample of schools with middle school grades. Using a web-based approach to data collection that we supplemented by telephone calls, we secured data from 1892 schools for a response rate of 78.2%. We estimate that the prevalence of evidence-based drug prevention curricula rose from 42.6% in 2005 to 46.9% in 2008, and that the prevalence of schools that used these curricula most frequently increased from 22.7% to 25.9% over this period. In addition, the proportion of schools using locally developed curricula also rose, from 17.6% to 28.1%. This study suggests the success of efforts by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools to increase the prevalence of evidence-based curricula, as well as the need to continue to track the prevalence of these curricula in response to any reductions in the Office’s fiscal support for evidence-based drug prevention curricula in the nation’s schools

The Development of Aggression During Adolescence: Sex Differences in Trajectories of Physical and Social Aggression Among Youth in Rural Areas

Few studies have examined the development of social aggression over time or described trajectories of aggressive behaviors for youth living in rural areas. We compared the timing and patterns of physical and social aggression and examined sex differences in development using five waves of in-school surveys administered over 2.5 years. The sample (N=5151) was 50.0% female, 52.1% white and 38.2% African-American. At baseline the average age was 13.1 years. Multilevel growth curve models showed that physical and social aggression followed curvilinear trajectories from ages 11 to 18, with increases in each type of aggression followed by subsequent declines. Physical aggression peaked around age 15; social aggression peaked around age 14. Boys consistently perpetrated more physical aggression than girls, but the trajectories were parallel. Girls and boys perpetrated the same amount of social aggression at all ages. We discuss implications for prevention programming to address the marked increases in both types of aggression observed during early adolescence