We used a systems perspective to examine relationships between adolescents' perceptions of overall family system functioning and selected parental behaviors. Self-report questionnaire data from 160 ninth and tenth grade students were analyzed using MANCOVA and discriminant analysis. The results showed two parental behaviors, support and monitoring…

This study reports on relationships among gender, maternal depressed mood, and children's trajectories of depressive phenomena across middle childhood and early adolescence. It tested the hypothesis that, compared to boys, girls become increasingly vulnerable to maternal depression as they enter adolescence. The study sample consisted of 834…

Adolescence is a time of major transitions, in which the potential for conflict and stress are numerous. In spite of the many changes and transitions that occur during adolescence, very few adolescents seek help in coping with their personal problems. In this article, we describe the help-seeking behaviours of adolescents and identify specific…

Data from almost 13,000 respondents to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health ("Add Health") are used to examine the impact of residential and school mobility on the structure of adolescents' friendship networks and the degree to which parents know their children's friends and the parents of those friends. Recent movers or school…

This study explores the unique influence of fathers on adolescents' psychological well-being. Analyses are based on a nationally representative sample (Add Health) of students in Grades 7 through 12 living in intact homes. Results of multivariate analyses reveal that the father-adolescent relationship has an independent impact on adolescents'…

Assimilation theorists have long viewed inter-group romantic partnerships as indicators of racial equality. Although the past half-century has witnessed the erosion of anti-miscegenation laws and subsequent increases in the frequency of interracial marriages, these unions remain relatively infrequent. Low intermarriage rates may be partially…

This study examined both socioeconomic and cultural factors in explaining ethnic differences in monitoring, behavioral control, and warmth--part of a series of coordinated studies presented in this special issue. Socioeconomic variables included mother's and father's educational levels, employment status, home ownership, number of siblings in the…

Multiple dimensions of adolescents' connectedness with their families were investigated among 489 9th-grade students (M = 14.86 years) from families with Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds. Participants reported on various aspects of their family relationships and completed diary checklists of daily behaviors for a 2-week period. …

Objective: This study tests the efficacy of the Fast Track Program in preventing antisocial behavior and psychiatric disorders among groups varying in initial risk. Method: Schools within four sites (Durham, NC; Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA; and rural central Pennsylvania) were selected as high-risk institutions based on neighborhood crime and…

A substantial literature documents a gender reversal in many aspects of social psychological functioning during adolescence, in which girls fall below boys in domains in which they once enjoyed advantages. This study elaborates upon recent research from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health suggesting that this phenomenon may occur…

Violence among American youth is a significant societal problem. The past decade witnessed juvenile arrests for violence, weapons, drugs, and curfew violations peak in the mid 90's. Analogous to the arrest trends for older juveniles, the arrest rate for young offenders rose 63% from 1987 until 1994 when it declined slightly. Since that time,…