Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a common experience among preadolescent girls and a robust risk factor and precursor to eating pathology (EP). Although the relationship between BD and EP has been well documented, there is less research exploring the factors that may make this relationship more or less pronounced. In the current study, we investigated…

Sexual risk reduction interventions are often ineffective for women who drink alcohol. The present study examines whether an alcohol-related sexual risk reduction intervention successfully trains women to increase assertive communication behaviors and decrease aggressive communication behaviors. Women demonstrated their communication skills during…

This study examines whether expectancies about the impact of not drinking or reducing alcohol use and perceptions of peer alcohol use partially mediated risk incurred by sensation seeking for adolescent alcohol involvement. High school drinkers (N = 3,153) completed a survey assessing substance use, sensation seeking, perceived peer alcohol use,…

Objective: This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Disregulated Alcohol-Related Behaviors Inventory (DARBI), a measure of harmful alcohol-related behavior, and the relationship between protective behavior use and scores on the DARBI and several other measures. Participants: Participants were 281 undergraduate volunteers (60%…

Community studies indicating that affluence has social-emotional consequences for youth have conflated family and neighborhood wealth. We examined adolescent boys' delinquency and adolescent girls' anxiety-depression as a function of family, neighborhood, and cumulative affluence in a sample that is primarily of European-American descent, but…

Major depressive disorder aggregates within families, although the mechanisms of transfer across generations are not well understood. In light of converging biological and behavioral evidence that depressive symptoms are associated with impaired reward processing, we examined whether adolescent girls with a parental history of depression would…

Objectives: To explore the use of protective behaviors to reduce risks associated with alcohol consumption among adolescents during the summer preceding college enrollment. Methods: Survey data were collected in fall 2006 and 2007 that assessed demographic characteristics, drinking behaviors, and use of protective behaviors in the 3 months…

This study was designed to examine the contribution of multiple risk factors to early internalizing problems and to investigate whether family and ecological context moderated the association between child temperament and internalizing outcomes. A sample of 1,202 mothers of 2- and 3-year-old children completed a survey of child social-emotional…

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…

According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from 1991 to 2000, arrests of girls increased more (or decreased less) than arrests of boys for most types of offenses. By 2004, girls accounted for 30 percent of all juvenile arrests. However, questions remain about whether these trends reflect an actual increase in girls' delinquency or…

This research examined resilience processes in context through a narrative case study of Tasha, a young African-American woman who grew up in a poverty-ridden area of a mid-sized city in the Southeast. Personal and external data are analyzed and interpreted in terms of contextually defined themes of adversity (i.e., intersectionality of social…

This study investigated interactions between observed temperamental effortful control and observed parenting in the prediction of externalizing problems. Child gender effects on these relations were examined. The relations were examined concurrently when the child was 3 years old and longitudinally at 4.5 years. The sample included 89 two-parent…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors distinguishing Mexican American women living near the U.S.-Mexican border who are resilient to the experience of stress from those who are not. The study sample consisted of 418 participants ranging in age from 20 to 61 years. Data were gathered through a self-report survey instrument composed of…

An 8-month prospective study examined behavioral, personality, and psychological variables thought to increase vulnerability for college women's experience of rape and verbal sexual coercion. Participants were 276 college women who completed self-report surveys. During 1 academic year, 9.5% of women were raped and 11.7% reported verbal sexual…

Research has suggested that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may be a risk factor for adulthood sexual assault. This study examined associations between CSA experiences, cognitive resiliency variables, and revictimization. Participants were 73 college-age females who completed self-report questionnaires assessing CSA, adult assault, self-efficacy,…