NCJ Number
164516
Date Published
1996
Length
24 pages
Annotation
The psychological and sociological literature on adolescent development and adolescent health behaviors is reviewed, with emphasis on behaviors on behaviors related to drug abuse, AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases and health decisionmaking models.
Abstract
The Preadult Health Decision-making Model (PAHDM) developed by Langer and Warheit takes into account the different ways youth process information from peers and parents and engage in critical or reflexive self-analysis. The PADHM rests on basic sociological principles and includes that psychological variables of maturation and developmental phasing that affect the transition from childhood to adulthood. It emphasizes that adolescent decisionmaking styles are unique in that they mainly reflect their developmental stage, while adult decisionmaking may be more reflective of ideology or personality. Other research has revealed that adolescents about issues such as drug abuse and sexual behavior has not always resulted in behavioral change. The PADHM suggests that adolescents interact with peers, parents, and other adults in varying combinations and that an intervention is more likely to be successful if it gains maximum processing and reinforcement from a student's support network. Interventions that focus on the development of decisionmaking skills need to help adolescents to understand their own unique decisionmaking processes, including how they appraise the life events to which they are exposed. Figure and approximately 200 references