The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of depressive symptoms among adolescents using concepts drawn from two theoretical models that underlie popular youth-focused programs. Specifically, we assessed the degree to which family-level risk factors increase the likelihood of depressive symptoms, and the degree to which community and/or…

Focus group discussions with the youth living and working in the streets of Manila as well as interviews with key informants involved in intervention programs for these youth reveal several ways by which the youth may be protected from engaging in problem behaviors in and out of the streets. Findings reveal that conditions which promote the…

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this article examined how early maternal characteristics, an adolescent's family environment, and the adolescent's own attitudes and behaviors were associated with the odds of a nonmarital teenage birth among youth born to teenage mothers. Multivariate analyses indicated that these domains…

Online harassment can consist of threatening, worrisome, emotionally hurtful, or sexual messages delivered via an electronic medium that can lead victims to feel fear or distress much like real-world harassment and stalking. This activity is especially prevalent among middle and high school populations who frequently use technology as a means to…

Studies on factors affecting susceptibility to peer pressure are not plentiful although this susceptibility has been found to be associated with youth problems such as substance use and risky sexual behavior. The present study examined how adolescents' susceptibility to peer pressure is related to their relationships with mothers and emotional…

This article reports on interview data gathered from 27 young people involved with a street-level service for young people considered "at risk" of diagnosis of personality disorder. Interviews with a self-selecting sample of young people explored the events that led to their initial contact with the service. Using Silverman's twin-track…

This study examined the trajectories of sexual risk behaviors among adolescents from ages 15 to 23 and factors associated with those trajectories. The sample was 5,419 adolescents from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Using group-based trajectory modeling, five distinctive trajectory groups were identified. The High group had a high…

We conducted focus groups with girls ages 14 to 17 (N = 43) to study how the dominant discourse of sexual risk shapes young women's understanding of the sexual domain and their management of these presumably pervasive threats. Through inductive analysis, we developed a coding scheme focused on three themes: (a) "types of sexual risk,"…

We examined correlates and predictive associations of tattoos and body piercings among 1,462 Colorado students in grades 9 to 12. More boys (19%) than girls (17%) reported tattoos, but more girls (42%) than boys (16%) reported piercings (earlobes not included). Older students reported more body modification. Structural equation models showed that…

Based on resilience and feminist criminological theories, several individual, family, and community characteristics were hypothesized to predict late-adolescent delinquency for girls varying in early-adolescent risk. Girls aged 12 and 13 were interviewed each year as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Predictors of…

The present study examines risk factors for running away and homelessness among a sample of more than 7,000 currently housed youth using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Structural equation modeling results revealed that those with greater levels of family instability and those who ran away at Wave 2 were…

Using a nationally representative sample of 3,058 junior high school students in Taiwan, this study examines a model of how personal traits, family factors, and school dynamics influence school violence committed by students against students and teachers. This model proposed that school violence is directly influenced by personal traits,…

Grounded in symbolic interactionism and drawing on data gathered in the 2007 Monitoring the Future Study (n = 2,201), this research examines how self-esteem and perceived intelligence, as well as attitudes and behaviors related to school environments, associate with perceptions of anabolic-androgenic steroids. With perceived risk and…

This article builds on a sociological account of working-class minority youth development and differential access to social capital--defined in terms of key resources and support provided by institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001, 2004). The article elaborates on the concept of "institutional agents"--specifically, high-status, non-kin,…

Young adult suicide is an important social problem, yet little is known about how risk for young adult suicide develops from earlier life stages. In this study the authors report on 759 young adults who were potential high school dropouts as youth. At both adolescence and young adulthood, measures of suicide risk status and related suicide risk…