Cross-national evidence for the clustering and psychosocial correlates of adolescent risk behaviours in 27 countries

Background: According to Jessor's Problem Behaviour Theory (PBT) and Moffitt's theory of adolescence-limited antisocial behaviour, adolescent risk behaviours cluster and can be predicted by various psychosocial factors including parent, peer and school attachment. This study tested the potential influence of the sociocultural, or macro-level, environment on the clustering and correlates of adolescent risk behaviour across 27 European and North American countries. Methods: Analyses were based on data from the 2009-10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Participants compromised 56 090 adolescents (Mage = 15.5 years) who self-reported on substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) and early sexual activity as well as on psychosocial factors (parent, peer and school attachment). Results: Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses (with country as grouping variable) showed that substance use and early sexual activity loaded on a single underlying factor across countries. In addition, multiple group path analyses (with country as grouping variable) showed that associations between this factor and parent, peer and school attachment were identical across countries. Conclusion: Cross-national consistencies exist in the clustering and psychosocial correlates of substance use and early sexual activity across western countries. While Jessor's PBT stresses the problematic aspects of adolescent risk behaviours, Moffitt emphasizes their normative character. Although the problematic nature of risk behaviours overall receives more attention in the literature, it is important to consider both perspectives to fully understand why they cluster and correlate with psychosocial factors. This is essential for the development and implementation of prevention programmes aimed at reducing adolescent risk behaviours across Europe and North Americ

An Implicit Measure of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Emerging Adults: Reliability and Validity Aspects

Psychometric characteristics were investigated of an Implicit Association Test to assess implicit endorsement of the sexual double standard (SDS-IAT) in emerging adults. The reliability of the SDS-IAT was investigated focusing on internal consistency across different phases of the test. Convergent validity of the SDS-IAT was evaluated against the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards in Youth, an explicit measure of SDS, and against gender investment. Divergent validity was evaluated against the personality characteristics of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness. Gendered patterns were examined. Attenuation-corrected alphas demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with alphas ranging for.65–.70. A modest level of explicit SDS endorsement was found in both female and male participants. In line with their explicit SDS level, a modest level of implicit SDS endorsement was found in male participants, whereas a reverse implicit SDS was found among young women. In agreement with our theoretical expectations, we found low convergent validity in multitrait-multimethod analysis of the SDS-IAT with a measure of explicit SDS endorsement, and with general level of investment in gender ideals. Similarly, divergent validity analysis revealed absence of significant correlations with the conceptually unrelated concepts of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness, except for extraversion in female participants. The present findings suggest that implicit SDS endorsement can be assessed using the SDS-IAT. The finding that explicit and implicit SDS approvals differ in young female participants, while they align in young male participants, warrants further research

Associations of Electronic Media Communication with Adolescent Substance Use (HBSC)

With the increase in electronic media communication (EMC; e.g., texting, instant messaging) among adolescents (Valkenburg and Peter 2010), the contexts important for adolescents’ interactions with peers have expanded from the physical (offline) to the virtual (online) world (Brechwald and Prinstein 2011). Adolescents use EMC frequently to communicate and to develop and maintain close relationships with their peers (Lenhart, 2012).Previous research has shown that EMC is positively associated with adolescent substance use (e.g., Ohannessian 2009; Osaki et al. 2012). However, it remains unclear how these associations should be interpreted. On the one hand, these associations may reflect already established associations between offline interactions and adolescent substance use (e.g., Chassin et al. 2009; Kuntsche et al. 2009a). On the other hand, there may be unique and independent associations of EMC with adolescent substance. Hence, EMC is frequently used to display engagement in substance use (e.g., texting about or posting pictures of partying and drinking; Loss et al. 2013), and exposure to online displays of substance use by peers has been associated with adolescents own substance use (e.g., Huang et al. 2014; Stoddard et al. 2012).Given this gap in the literature, the current study examined the unique effects of EMC with friends on adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis), over and beyond the effects of face-to-face (FTF) interactions with friends and the classroom norm (i.e., the average level of substance use by classmates) in a sample of 5.642 12- to 16-year-old Dutch adolescents drawn from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study (Roberts et al. 2009). Given the two-level hierarchical structure of the data (participants nested within classrooms), multilevel analyses were run.Descriptive statistics and correlations are presented in Table 1. The distributions of the behaviours were positively skewed (most adolescents did not engage in substance use). Table 1 shows that substance use behaviours were significantly and positively correlated with all predictor variables. More EMC, more FTF interactions, and a higher classroom norm were associated with more individual substance use. Results of the final multilevel Model 6 (including all fixed and random effects) are presented in Table 2. Use of each substance was significantly and positively associated with EMC. These main effects weakened slightly though remained significant after including FTF interactions and the classroom norm. Additional analyses revealed that the standardized effect of EMC was significantly stronger for alcohol use (β = .15) than for tobacco (β = .05, t(5180) = 3.33) or cannabis use (β = .06, t(5160) = 2.79, all ps < .01). Further, EMC strengthened the positive effects of FTF interactions after school on tobacco use, FTF interactions in the evening on tobacco and cannabis use, and classroom norm on alcohol use (all simple slopes p < .05).In summary, this study demonstrated that EMC is uniquely associated with adolescent substance use, over and beyond the effects of FTF interactions and the classroom norm. These findings imply that online behaviours should not be left unnoticed in both research and in substance use prevention programs

Dance Is the new metal: Adolescent music preferences and substance use across Europe

This study examined relationships between music preferences and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) among 18,103 fifteen-year-olds from 10 European countries. In 2005–2006, across Europe, preferences for mainstream Pop (pop chart music) and Highbrow (classical music and jazz) were negatively associated with substance use, while preferences for Dance (house/trance and techno/hardhouse) were associated positively with substance use. In three countries, links were identified between liking Rock (rock, heavy metal punk/hardcore, and gothic) and substance use; associations between Urban (hip-hop and R&B) and substance use were mixed. No substantial gender differences emerged in these patterns, and controlling for relevant covariates did not attenuate the predictive value of substance use. The findings are consistent with the conclusion that music is a robust marker of adolescent substance use.peer-reviewe

An Implicit Measure of Sexual Double Standard Endorsement in Emerging Adults: Reliability and Validity Aspects

Psychometric characteristics were investigated of an Implicit Association Test to assess implicit endorsement of the sexual double standard (SDS-IAT) in emerging adults. The reliability of the SDS-IAT was investigated focusing on internal consistency across different phases of the test. Convergent validity of the SDS-IAT was evaluated against the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards in Youth, an explicit measure of SDS, and against gender investment. Divergent validity was evaluated against the personality characteristics of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness. Gendered patterns were examined. Attenuation-corrected alphas demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with alphas ranging for.65–.70. A modest level of explicit SDS endorsement was found in both female and male participants. In line with their explicit SDS level, a modest level of implicit SDS endorsement was found in male participants, whereas a reverse implicit SDS was found among young women. In agreement with our theoretical expectations, we found low convergent validity in multitrait-multimethod analysis of the SDS-IAT with a measure of explicit SDS endorsement, and with general level of investment in gender ideals. Similarly, divergent validity analysis revealed absence of significant correlations with the conceptually unrelated concepts of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness, except for extraversion in female participants. The present findings suggest that implicit SDS endorsement can be assessed using the SDS-IAT. The finding that explicit and implicit SDS approvals differ in young female participants, while they align in young male participants, warrants further research