NCJ Number
130084
Date Published
Unknown
Length
37 pages
Annotation
Lifestyle profiles were developed for 218 urban black adolescents using school attendance, employment, church attendance, and delinquency as variables.
Abstract
The mean age of study participants was 17 years, and 70 percent left school before graduation. Most youth left school in the ninth and tenth grades. At the time of interview, youth no longer attending school had been out of school for an average of 10.7 months. Cluster analysis was employed to assess measures of spirituality, participation in voluntary organizations, self-esteem, and substance abuse of friends. These clusters were then compared in terms of cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use. It was found that instrumental lifestyle behaviors may compensate for other detrimental lifestyle behaviors when considering risk factors associated with adolescent alcohol and substance abuse. For example, youth who left high school before graduation but who were involved in the church reported less alcohol and substance use than youth who left school and were not involved in any meaningful instrumental activity. Further research on high-risk behaviors and implications of the study findings for intervention are discussed. 31 references and 5 tables (Author abstract modified)