Peer relations researchers have suggested that dyadic and peer group relationship characteristics may interact with each other to affect behavior. Building on prior work that has pitted the relative effects of dyadic and peer group relationship characteristics on susceptibility to peer influence, the present study sought to integrate dyadic and…

Developmental neuroscience models suggest that changes in responsiveness to incentives contribute to increases in adolescent risk behavior, including substance use. Trajectories of sensitivity to reward (SR) and sensitivity to punishment (SP) were examined and tested as predictors of escalation of early substance use in a community sample of…

A developmental cascade model for adolescent substance use beginning in infancy was examined in a sample of children with alcoholic and nonalcoholic parents. The model examined the role of parents' alcohol diagnoses, depression and antisocial behavior in a cascading process of risk via 3 major hypothesized pathways: first, via parental…

Background: Early sex is associated with high-risk behaviors and outcomes, including sexual risk behaviors, forced sex, physical dating violence, and becoming pregnant or impregnating someone. Methods: Using 2005 and 2007 data from the New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 17,220), this study examined the prevalence of early sex among…

While the rates of teen childbearing have declined in the United States, adolescents who become pregnant and decide to bear and rear their babies are often from low-income, highly stressed families and communities. This article will describe the psychosocial problems of pregnant urban teens and how exposure to interpersonal trauma and current…

The current study examines the role of mental illness-related stigma on romantic or sexual relationships and sexual behavior among youth with mental illness (MI), including youths' experiences of stigma, the internalization of these experiences, and the behavior associated with managing stigma within romantic and sexual relationships. We conducted…

Dialogue journaling is a technique that is useful for enhancing the goals of sexual health promotion and HIV/STI prevention programs with 14-to 17-year-old at-risk youth. Included is a detailed lesson plan on how to implement dialogue journaling in this context, a discussion of advantages and concerns about using them, and future implications for…

Knowing the economic challenges young fathers without postsecondary education face in providing for their families, New York City's Young Men's Initiative launched a fatherhood program housed in LaGuardia Community College in spring 2012. The CUNY Fatherhood Academy (CFA) aims to connect young fathers to academic and employment opportunities while…

Knowing the economic challenges young fathers without postsecondary education face in providing for their families, New York City's Young Men's Initiative launched a fatherhood program housed in LaGuardia Community College in spring 2012. The CUNY Fatherhood Academy (CFA) aims to connect young fathers to academic and employment opportunities while…

The heightened level of risk for HIV infection among Black and Latino young men who have sex with men (YMSM) is driven by multilevel influences. Using cross-sectional data, we examined HIV testing patterns among urban YMSM of color in a high-HIV seroprevalence area (ages 16 to 21 years). Self-reported frequency of testing was high, with 42% of…

The present study examines the quality of peer relations as a mediator between exposure to IPV (intimate partner violence) and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 preadolescents and adolescents (ages 10-18), who were interviewed via telephone as part of a multigenerational, prospective, longitudinal study. Relational victimization is also…

This study's primary aims were to examine whether a sample of young adults, aged 23 to 31, who had been documented as physically abused by their parent(s) during adolescence would be more likely to aggress, both physically and verbally, against their intimate partners compared with nonabused young adults and whether abuse history was (along with…

This article reports on a review of selected New York State school prevention program student case records. Methods: Data were extracted from Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) standardized Prevention Activity Summary forms. A total of 407 records from 12 high schools throughout New York State were reviewed. Results: The age…

This thesis is an art-based research video demonstration of an alternate medium for art therapy. It postulates the value and validity of media arts as a therapeutic modality by way of adopting the major motion picture green screening technique for therapy with an at-risk youth population. Four male participants, raging from 16 to 19 years of age,…

Although sex is one of the strongest correlates of crime, contentions remain regarding the necessity of sex-specific theories of crime. The current study examines delinquent trajectories across sex among Puerto Rican youth socialized in two different cultural contexts (Bronx, United States; and San Juan, Puerto Rico). Results indicate similar…