NCJ Number
223472
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 7 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 798-811
Date Published
August 2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study provides new information on the development of adolescent problem behaviors in African-American youth by testing the importance of known predictors, namely, parenting measures (monitoring, support, and communication), peers, and perceived neighborhood characteristics across rural and nonrural development contexts.
Abstract
The findings show that both parenting characteristics and peer deviance had significant effects on problem behaviors and that these effects were consistent across rural and nonrural developmental contexts. Parenting measures and peer deviance consistently explained a similar amount of variability in alcohol use, drug use, delinquency, and violence across the two contexts (rural and nonrural); whereas, the neighborhood characteristics did not account for additional variability. This was unexpected, given some of the evidence that supports variability in the perceived features of the neighborhood as associated with problem behaviors. The findings suggest that similar prevention and intervention efforts are appropriate for both rural and nonrural African-American adolescents. Data were collected from 687 rural and 182 nonrural African-American adolescents living in the southeastern United States. Data for the rural sample were collected from 7th to 12th graders in 2000. Data for the nonrural sample were collected from 9th to 12th graders in 1998. A common battery of self-report questionnaires was used to collect data from both rural and nonrural participants. Variables measured pertained to demography (age, sex, family structure, and socioeconomic status), family processes, peer deviance, neighborhood connection, alcohol use, drug use, violence (assault), and delinquency (theft and vandalism). 5 tables, 82 references, and appendix