A 3-year study of 203 nondrinking seventh and eighth graders found that 52% had becomes drinkers by tenth or eleventh grade, and that 28% reported getting drunk at least 2 to 4 times per year. The study also found that adolescent attitudes toward alcohol were significant predictors of alcohol use and abuse. (MDM)

Pregnant women completed the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and protective service records were reviewed three years later. Of 459 women, 29 had maltreated their children. Neglectful mothers had lower scores on self-esteem, moral self-worth, and personal and social adequacy than nonreported mothers. Both neglectful and physically abusive mothers…

Examines the development of normative sleep-wake state characteristics in full-term infants, and atypical state characteristics as presented in several clinical populations including preterm and autistic children. Reviews and critiques the literature on the usefulness of infant state parameters in predicting developmental outcomes of infants at…

Tested relevance of risk-factor model for predicting drug use among rural seventh graders (n=235). Nineteen of 20 risk factors were significantly related to at least 1 category of drug use. Subset of 10 risk factors was significantly associated with prevalence and frequency of use of cigarettes, beer and wine, hard liquor, marijuana, and other…

Examined deviancy training as a risk factor for aggression toward female partners among boys and young men in the longitudinal Oregon Youth Study. Found that the relation of adolescent deviant peer association and later aggression toward partners was mediated by antisocial behavior. Observed hostile talk about women with male peers explained…

Finkelhor's Risk Factor Checklist factors were reexamined as predictors of childhood sexual abuse, employing procedures to facilitate a high degree of honest and diligent task implementation and strong ethical safeguards for female college students (n=411). Subjects reported an incidence rate of 24.3%; only one of the checklist's eight factors…

The objective of this paper is to profile the role of homelessness in drug and sexual risk in a population of young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Data are from a cross-sectional survey collected between 2000 and 2001 in New York City (N=569). With the goal of examining the import of homelessness in increased risk for the onset of drug and…

This study prospectively evaluated perpetrator risk factors for sexual assault perpetration, including peer influences, beliefs and attitudes about sexuality, alcohol use, and token resistance. Perpetration of sexual assault was evaluated at three time periods: pretest, 3-month follow-up, and 7-month follow-up. Retrospective and prospective…

This article reviews research linking a number of temperamental vulnerabilities to the development of severe conduct problems in children. Also reviewed are 2 areas of research that focus on important developmental processes that could mediate the relation between temperament and conduct problems. These processes are the development of emotional…

The prevalence, etiology, and consequences of adolescent risk behavior have stimulated much research. The current study examined relationships among anger and depressive symptomatology (DS), risk perception, self-restraint, and adolescent risk behavior. Telephone surveys were conducted with 290 14- to 20-year-olds (173 females; M = 15.98 years).…

Using a sample of 42 Korean mothers whose infants are cared for by someone at non-maternal child care facilities, this study first examined both main effects and interaction effects between maternal knowledge of infant development and maternal self-efficacy on parenting behavior. Second, the combined effects of variables of interest in this study…

There is a dearth of research that examines the impact of family systems therapy on problems among sexually and/or physically abused youth. Given this void, differential outcome and predictors of substance use change were evaluated for abused, as compared with nonabused, runaway adolescents who were randomly assigned to family therapy or treatment…

Logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict borderline/clinical levels of problem behavior (i.e., a t score at or above 60 on the Child Behavior Checklist Total Problem scale) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Results showed…

Objective: To study whether behavioral and emotional problems during childhood predicted early sexual debut, risky sex at age 21 years, and sexually transmitted infections up to age 21 years. Some possible mediational pathways were also explored. Method: Participants were enrolled in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (n =…

This study examined the effects that cumulation of slight risks-prenatal up to adolescence-had on cognitive competence and school achievement in Austrian students who had not been identified as being at risk. Data were collected on 91 randomly selected 11- to 13-year-olds who participated in the Vienna Developmental Study, which analyzed…