This study examined multiple risk behaviors (violence, delinquency, and substance use) among 240 African American and 262 Hispanic preadolescent boys from urban schools in the Midwest United States. Latent transition analysis allowed patterns of multivariate risk to emerge uniquely within and across these ethnic groups, highlighting patterns for…

Background: Randomized prevention trials provide a unique opportunity to test hypotheses about the interaction of genetic predispositions with contextual processes to create variations in phenotypes over time. Methods: Using two longitudinal, randomized prevention trials, molecular genetic and alcohol use outcome data were gathered from more than…

This longitudinal study examined the rates of overweight, elevated blood pressure, acanthosis nigricans, and their associated factors in third through fifth grade students over 4 years. Participants consisted of 279 students who participated in health screenings in 2002 and 2006. Hispanic students had significantly higher rates of overweight and…

In a multiethnic community sample of 1,170 preadolescent children, it was investigated whether discrepancies in parent-child reports of internalizing problems are related with gender, ethnic background (Dutch, Surinamese/Antillean, Moroccan, Turkish, Other) and with future internalizing problems. No significant differences in discrepancy scores…

Prior research has found that proactive and reactive aggression differentially relate to many variables, including peer relations. However, no research has examined the relation between proactive and reactive aggression and peer delinquency, an important proximal predictor of adolescent antisocial behavior. The current study examined the…

This short-term longitudinal study examined the direct association between relational victimization and relational aggression over a five-month period, and proposed that hostile attributional bias for relational provocations mediated this association. Participants were 140 preadolescents (aged 9 to 11 years) in grades four and five. Relational…

We investigated determinants of parental monitoring and the association between parental monitoring and preadolescent sexual risk situations among low-income, African American families living in urban public housing. Preadolescents and their parents or caregivers who participated in a longitudinal study of familial and contextual influences on…

The study examined the impact of body mass index (BMI), negative affect, self-esteem, and sociocultural influences in the development of weight and muscle concerns among preadolescent boys. Body dissatisfaction, importance placed on weight and muscles, weight loss strategies, and strategies to increase muscles were evaluated. Participants were 237…

Four years of longitudinal data from 2,153 families with a 5th- or 6th-grade preadolescent participating in a family-focused pediatric primary-care-based prevention program were used to examine whether prevention effects were moderated by positive parenting and/or adolescent gender. Alcohol and tobacco use, internalizing problems, and…