Framed within an ecological perspective of the onset of adolescent problem behaviors, the current study explored the joint role of parent-adolescents' relationships and youth's individual factors in binge eating and drinking. Firstly, in line with pieces of research highlighting the beneficial impact of effective parenting on youth development,…

The aim of this study was to determine if adolescents' scores on a 2-item underage alcohol use screener predict risky consequences of past-year alcohol use and other health risk behaviors in a nonclinical, school-based sample of adolescents. A predominantly minority sample of 756 middle and high school students completed in-school tablet-based…

Rates of alcohol use peak during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, a developmental phase that encompasses heightened stress and emotion regulation demands. This mixed methods study examines the influence of a critical developmental transition, high school graduation, on the relationship between problem alcohol use and emotion…

Antisocial peer behavior and low parental knowledge of adolescents' activities are key interpersonal risk factors for adolescent substance use. However, how the magnitude of associations between these risk factors and substance use may vary across adolescence remains less well understood. The present study examined the age-varying associations of…

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Facebook age presentation, Facebook alcohol displays, and alcohol related risk factors among college students. Methods: Students from two universities in the United States enrolled and accepted a researcher's Facebook friend request. Participant's Facebook profiles were evaluated…

Underage drinking is a major problem in the United States, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. About 43,000 deaths a year result from binge drinking in youths at a cost of $24 billion in 2010 to the U.S. economy. The purpose of this quantitative dissertation was to examine the predictors of binge drinking in high school youths in a…

Background: We tested the effect of initiating marijuana and alcohol use at varying frequencies on academic indices. Methods: In a sample of 26,475 grade 9-12 students with at least 2 years of linked longitudinal data from year 1 (Y1: 2012-2013), year 2 (Y2: 2013-2014), and year 3 (Y3: 2014-2015) of the COMPASS study, separate multinomial…

We examined the impact of adolescents' popularity motivations on their involvement in relational aggression perpetration and victimization, heavy drinking, and antiauthority behavior, while also considering the role of teens' perception of their own popularity and psychosocial adjustment. High school students (N = 986; 50% female; M[subscript age]…

National data from Monitoring the Future were used to examine patterns and predictors of college attendance. Samples of American 12th-grade students from 1977 to 2003 were followed for 7 years (modal ages 18-25; N = 10,020). College attendance and graduation patterns varied considerably over historical time and based on family background.…

Parents impact adolescent substance abuse, but sex-specific influences are not well-understood. This study examined parental influences on adolescent drinking behavior in a sample of ninth-grade students (N = 473). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated parental monitoring, disapproval of teen alcohol use, and quality of parent-teen general…

Background: Alcohol and marijuana are the most commonly used psychoactive substances; however, the sequencing and relationship between age of first use and continued current problematic use among college-bound emerging adults is not well understood. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of current and historical alcohol and marijuana use among…

Students often drink alcohol at their highest levels in college. It is suggested that students with the most severe drinking problems begin drinking by or in high school, but studies on high school drinking tend to focus on students who have academic problems and are not college-bound. The purpose of this study was to examine high school drinking…

The effect of early adolescent alcohol use on antisocial behavior was examined at 1- and 2-year follow-up in Washington State, United States, and Victoria, Australia. Each state used the same methods to survey statewide representative samples of students ("N" = 1,858, 52% female) in 2002 (Grade 7 [G7]), 2003 (Grade 8 [G8]), and 2004…

Data from the spring 2010 Minnesota student survey were analyzed in order to quantify the risk for suicide ideation as a function of bullying variability. Other factors available from the survey included alcohol and other drug use, within-family violence and abuse, mental health symptoms. In addition, a factor analysis revealed a protective…

Problematic drinking in college students is a serious public health problem. Although parental influence wanes during the college years, research suggests that parental behaviors in high school, including monitoring, alcohol-specific control (i.e., rules or communication), and problematic modeling of drinking, continue to predict their children's…