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Richard Jessor - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking Health Behavior and Problem Behavior in Adolescence
Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, 2017Co-Authors: John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:Examined the relation of psychosocial and Behavioral conventionality-unconventionality to health-related Behavior in cross-sectional data from 1,588 male and female 7th to 12th graders. Conventionality-unconventionality was represented by personality, perceived social environment, and Behavior variables selected from the social-psychological framework of Problem Behavior Theory (R. Jessor & S. L. Jessor, 1977). Greater psychosocial conventionality correlates with more regular involvement in health-related Behavior (regular physical activity, adequate sleep, safety belt use, attention to healthy diet). Greater Behavioral conventionality (less involvement in Problem Behaviors such as marijuana use, Problem drinking, delinquent-type Behavior, and greater involvement in conventional Behaviors such as church attendance) was also associated with greater involvement in health-maintaining Behavior. The overall findings provide support for the extension of Problem Behavior Theory to the domain of adolescent health Behavior and for the relevance of the dimension of conventionality-unconventionality.
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Problem Behavior theory and success despite disadvantage
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Frances M CostaAbstract:The role of psychosocial risk and protective factors in successful adolescent development under circumstances of socioeconomic disadvantage was investigated among 1,638 high school students in a large, urban school district. Success referred to two important developmental tasks: engagement in school and avoiding more than minimal involvement in Problem Behavior. Significant negative effects on success were found for disadvantage and for risk factors, whereas protective factors had significant positive effects. In addition, protection moderated the effects of risk, especially for more disadvantaged youth. Further, in longitudinal analyses, both risk and protective factors accounted for significant variance in change in successful outcomes over time and development. Key risk factors are Low Expectations for Success, Low Self-Esteem, Hopelessness, and having Friends as Models for Problem Behavior. Key protective factors are Attitudinal Intolerance of Deviance, Positive Orientation to Health, and having Friends as Models for Conventional Behavior. Strengthening protective factors, as well as reducing risk, may enhance successful development, especially in disadvantaged life circumstances.
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Problem Behavior theory and the use of marijuana
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Shirley L JessorAbstract:This chapter is a report of the testing of Problem Behavior Theory in longitudinal research on adolescent and young adult marijuana use. Samples of high school and college youth were followed over a four-year period, and data on their use of marijuana and on a large number of theory-derived psychosocial and Behavioral measures were collected. A variety of theory-testing strategies were employed the convergence of which permitted a stronger claim on the causal relevance of the theory. The effectiveness of the theory in accounting for cross-sectional variation in marijuana use, for explaining change in marijuana use, and for predicting timing of onset of marijuana use was established across age, gender, and high school vs college contexts. The research also employed the concept of transition proneness to illuminate the developmental implications of Problem Behavior Theory.
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applying Problem Behavior theory to adolescent health Behavior
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:This chapter seeks to embed variation in involvement in health-related Behavior within the larger psychosocial, explanatory framework of Problem Behavior Theory. It explores the relation of personality and perceived environment variables that are distal from health-related Behavior, i.e., that do not directly imply it, to variation in involvement in such Behavior. Personality variables such as Intolerant Attitudes toward Deviance, Expectations for Academic Achievement, and Perceived Life Chances in the Opportunity Structure were shown to be positively related to health-enhancing Behavior. In addition, an index of health-enhancing Behavior involvement was shown to be negatively related to an index of Problem Behavior involvement. These relations between health Behaviors and Problem Behaviors suggest a larger organization at the level of an individual’s health-related lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and adolescent Problem Behavior in sub saharan africa
2017Co-Authors: Robert Ndugwa, Richard Jessor, James C Cleland, Thaddeus Egondi, Eliya M Zulu, Donatien Beguy, Caroline W. Kabiru, Richard JessorAbstract:Adolescent involvement in Problem Behaviors can compromise health, development, and successful transition to adulthood. The present study explores the appropriateness of a particular theoretical framework, Problem Behavior Theory, to account for variation in Problem Behavior among adolescents in informal settlements around a large, rapidly urbanizing city in sub-Saharan Africa. Data were collected from samples of never married adolescents of both sexes, aged 12–19, living in two Nairobi slum settlements (N = 1,722). Measures of the theoretical psychosocial protective and risk factor concepts provided a substantial, multi-variate, and explanatory account of adolescent Problem Behavior variation and demonstrated that protection can also moderate the impact of exposure to risk. Key protective and risk factors constitute targets for policies and programs to enhance the health and well-being of poor urban adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.
Richard Jessor - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking Health Behavior and Problem Behavior in Adolescence
Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, 2017Co-Authors: John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:Examined the relation of psychosocial and Behavioral conventionality-unconventionality to health-related Behavior in cross-sectional data from 1,588 male and female 7th to 12th graders. Conventionality-unconventionality was represented by personality, perceived social environment, and Behavior variables selected from the social-psychological framework of Problem Behavior Theory (R. Jessor & S. L. Jessor, 1977). Greater psychosocial conventionality correlates with more regular involvement in health-related Behavior (regular physical activity, adequate sleep, safety belt use, attention to healthy diet). Greater Behavioral conventionality (less involvement in Problem Behaviors such as marijuana use, Problem drinking, delinquent-type Behavior, and greater involvement in conventional Behaviors such as church attendance) was also associated with greater involvement in health-maintaining Behavior. The overall findings provide support for the extension of Problem Behavior Theory to the domain of adolescent health Behavior and for the relevance of the dimension of conventionality-unconventionality.
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Problem Behavior theory and success despite disadvantage
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Frances M CostaAbstract:The role of psychosocial risk and protective factors in successful adolescent development under circumstances of socioeconomic disadvantage was investigated among 1,638 high school students in a large, urban school district. Success referred to two important developmental tasks: engagement in school and avoiding more than minimal involvement in Problem Behavior. Significant negative effects on success were found for disadvantage and for risk factors, whereas protective factors had significant positive effects. In addition, protection moderated the effects of risk, especially for more disadvantaged youth. Further, in longitudinal analyses, both risk and protective factors accounted for significant variance in change in successful outcomes over time and development. Key risk factors are Low Expectations for Success, Low Self-Esteem, Hopelessness, and having Friends as Models for Problem Behavior. Key protective factors are Attitudinal Intolerance of Deviance, Positive Orientation to Health, and having Friends as Models for Conventional Behavior. Strengthening protective factors, as well as reducing risk, may enhance successful development, especially in disadvantaged life circumstances.
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Problem Behavior theory and the use of marijuana
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Shirley L JessorAbstract:This chapter is a report of the testing of Problem Behavior Theory in longitudinal research on adolescent and young adult marijuana use. Samples of high school and college youth were followed over a four-year period, and data on their use of marijuana and on a large number of theory-derived psychosocial and Behavioral measures were collected. A variety of theory-testing strategies were employed the convergence of which permitted a stronger claim on the causal relevance of the theory. The effectiveness of the theory in accounting for cross-sectional variation in marijuana use, for explaining change in marijuana use, and for predicting timing of onset of marijuana use was established across age, gender, and high school vs college contexts. The research also employed the concept of transition proneness to illuminate the developmental implications of Problem Behavior Theory.
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applying Problem Behavior theory to adolescent health Behavior
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:This chapter seeks to embed variation in involvement in health-related Behavior within the larger psychosocial, explanatory framework of Problem Behavior Theory. It explores the relation of personality and perceived environment variables that are distal from health-related Behavior, i.e., that do not directly imply it, to variation in involvement in such Behavior. Personality variables such as Intolerant Attitudes toward Deviance, Expectations for Academic Achievement, and Perceived Life Chances in the Opportunity Structure were shown to be positively related to health-enhancing Behavior. In addition, an index of health-enhancing Behavior involvement was shown to be negatively related to an index of Problem Behavior involvement. These relations between health Behaviors and Problem Behaviors suggest a larger organization at the level of an individual’s health-related lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and adolescent Problem Behavior in sub saharan africa
2017Co-Authors: Robert Ndugwa, Richard Jessor, James C Cleland, Thaddeus Egondi, Eliya M Zulu, Donatien Beguy, Caroline W. Kabiru, Richard JessorAbstract:Adolescent involvement in Problem Behaviors can compromise health, development, and successful transition to adulthood. The present study explores the appropriateness of a particular theoretical framework, Problem Behavior Theory, to account for variation in Problem Behavior among adolescents in informal settlements around a large, rapidly urbanizing city in sub-Saharan Africa. Data were collected from samples of never married adolescents of both sexes, aged 12–19, living in two Nairobi slum settlements (N = 1,722). Measures of the theoretical psychosocial protective and risk factor concepts provided a substantial, multi-variate, and explanatory account of adolescent Problem Behavior variation and demonstrated that protection can also moderate the impact of exposure to risk. Key protective and risk factors constitute targets for policies and programs to enhance the health and well-being of poor urban adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.
Frances M Costa - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking Health Behavior and Problem Behavior in Adolescence
Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, 2017Co-Authors: John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:Examined the relation of psychosocial and Behavioral conventionality-unconventionality to health-related Behavior in cross-sectional data from 1,588 male and female 7th to 12th graders. Conventionality-unconventionality was represented by personality, perceived social environment, and Behavior variables selected from the social-psychological framework of Problem Behavior Theory (R. Jessor & S. L. Jessor, 1977). Greater psychosocial conventionality correlates with more regular involvement in health-related Behavior (regular physical activity, adequate sleep, safety belt use, attention to healthy diet). Greater Behavioral conventionality (less involvement in Problem Behaviors such as marijuana use, Problem drinking, delinquent-type Behavior, and greater involvement in conventional Behaviors such as church attendance) was also associated with greater involvement in health-maintaining Behavior. The overall findings provide support for the extension of Problem Behavior Theory to the domain of adolescent health Behavior and for the relevance of the dimension of conventionality-unconventionality.
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applying Problem Behavior theory to adolescent health Behavior
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:This chapter seeks to embed variation in involvement in health-related Behavior within the larger psychosocial, explanatory framework of Problem Behavior Theory. It explores the relation of personality and perceived environment variables that are distal from health-related Behavior, i.e., that do not directly imply it, to variation in involvement in such Behavior. Personality variables such as Intolerant Attitudes toward Deviance, Expectations for Academic Achievement, and Perceived Life Chances in the Opportunity Structure were shown to be positively related to health-enhancing Behavior. In addition, an index of health-enhancing Behavior involvement was shown to be negatively related to an index of Problem Behavior involvement. These relations between health Behaviors and Problem Behaviors suggest a larger organization at the level of an individual’s health-related lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and contraceptive use in adolescence
2017Co-Authors: Frances M Costa, Richard Jessor, Dennis J Fortenberry, Richard Jessor, John E DonovanAbstract:This chapter explores the psychosocial and Behavioral factors associated with variation in contraceptive use among adolescents. Because regular use of contraception may be seen both as a conventional Behavior and as a health-protective Behavior, analyses assess the association between psychosocial conventionality and positive health orientation, on the one hand, and variation in contraceptive use, on the other. Analyses are based on an urban sample of 971 white, African-American, and Hispanic male and female sexually-active high school students. Study participants filled out a 38-page questionnaire that included a wide range of measures derived from Problem Behavior Theory. Correlational and hierarchical regression analysis indicate that more regular contraceptive use is associated with greater psychosocial conventionality and also with greater positive orientation toward health for both male and female adolescents. These relationships hold when the socio-demographic characteristics of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, grade in school, family composition, and pregnancy experience are controlled. The linkages of psychosocial conventionality and positive health orientation to contraceptive Behavior are stronger for African-American than for white and Hispanic adolescents. The findings establish a more comprehensive and more distal set of influences on regularity of contraceptive use. In its negative relationship to Problem Behavior and its positive linkage with health Behavior, contraceptive Behavior may be seen as part of a larger, organized Behavior system in adolescence, i.e., part of a more conventional lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and success despite disadvantage
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Frances M CostaAbstract:The role of psychosocial risk and protective factors in successful adolescent development under circumstances of socioeconomic disadvantage was investigated among 1,638 high school students in a large, urban school district. Success referred to two important developmental tasks: engagement in school and avoiding more than minimal involvement in Problem Behavior. Significant negative effects on success were found for disadvantage and for risk factors, whereas protective factors had significant positive effects. In addition, protection moderated the effects of risk, especially for more disadvantaged youth. Further, in longitudinal analyses, both risk and protective factors accounted for significant variance in change in successful outcomes over time and development. Key risk factors are Low Expectations for Success, Low Self-Esteem, Hopelessness, and having Friends as Models for Problem Behavior. Key protective factors are Attitudinal Intolerance of Deviance, Positive Orientation to Health, and having Friends as Models for Conventional Behavior. Strengthening protective factors, as well as reducing risk, may enhance successful development, especially in disadvantaged life circumstances.
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Problem Behavior theory and the dynamics of protection and risk
2016Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Frances M Costa, Judith Vanderryn, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. TurbinAbstract:The relation of psychosocial protective factors to involvement in Problem Behavior—alcohol and drug use, delinquency, and sexual precocity—was investigated in a longitudinal study of 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in a large, urban school district. Protective factors were drawn from the personality, the perceived environment, and the Behavior systems of Problem Behavior Theory. The findings show a significant inverse relation between protection and Problem Behavior involvement. There is a significant interaction between protection and risk in the prediction of Problem Behavior: Protection is shown to moderate the relation of risk to Problem Behavior. Protective factors are also significant predictors of change in adolescent Problem Behavior over time. Direct effects of protection are consistent across all gender and racial/ethnic subgroups; moderator effects are evident for female, White, and Hispanic subgroups only.
Mark S. Turbin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Problem Behavior theory and success despite disadvantage
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Frances M CostaAbstract:The role of psychosocial risk and protective factors in successful adolescent development under circumstances of socioeconomic disadvantage was investigated among 1,638 high school students in a large, urban school district. Success referred to two important developmental tasks: engagement in school and avoiding more than minimal involvement in Problem Behavior. Significant negative effects on success were found for disadvantage and for risk factors, whereas protective factors had significant positive effects. In addition, protection moderated the effects of risk, especially for more disadvantaged youth. Further, in longitudinal analyses, both risk and protective factors accounted for significant variance in change in successful outcomes over time and development. Key risk factors are Low Expectations for Success, Low Self-Esteem, Hopelessness, and having Friends as Models for Problem Behavior. Key protective factors are Attitudinal Intolerance of Deviance, Positive Orientation to Health, and having Friends as Models for Conventional Behavior. Strengthening protective factors, as well as reducing risk, may enhance successful development, especially in disadvantaged life circumstances.
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Problem Behavior theory and adolescent pro social Behavior
2016Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. TurbinAbstract:This study investigates the different roles played by protective factors and risk factors—and by particular protective and risk factors—when the concern is with accounting for adolescent Problem Behavior than when the concern is with accounting for adolescent pro-social Behavior. The protective and risk factor literature on adolescent Problem Behavior reveals considerable conceptual and operational ambiguity; an aim of the present study was to advance understanding in this domain of inquiry by providing a systematic conceptualization of protection and risk and of their measurement. Within the systematic framework of Problem Behavior Theory, four protective and four risk factors are assessed in a cross-national study of both Problem Behavior and pro-social Behavior involving large adolescent samples in China (N = 1368) and the US (N = 1087), in grades 9, 10, and 11; females 56 %, US; 50 %, China. The findings reveal quite different roles for protection and risk, and for particular protective and risk factors, when the outcome criterion is Problem Behavior than when it is pro-social Behavior. The protective factor, Controls Protection, which engages rule and regulations and sanctions in the adolescent’s ecology, emerges as most important in influencing Problem Behavior, but it plays a relatively minor role in relationship to pro-social Behavior. By contrast, Models Protection, the presence of pro-social models in the adolescent’s ecology, and Support Protection, the presence of interest and care in that same ecology, have no significant relationship to Problem Behavior variation, but they are both the major predictors of variation in pro-social Behavior. The findings are robust across the samples from the two very diverse societies. These results suggest that greater attention be given to protection in Problem Behavior research and that a more nuanced perspective is needed about the roles that particular protective and risk factors play in reducing Problem Behavior and in promoting pro-social Behavior.
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Problem Behavior theory and the dynamics of protection and risk
2016Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Frances M Costa, Judith Vanderryn, Mark S Turbin, Richard Jessor, Mark S. TurbinAbstract:The relation of psychosocial protective factors to involvement in Problem Behavior—alcohol and drug use, delinquency, and sexual precocity—was investigated in a longitudinal study of 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-grade adolescents in a large, urban school district. Protective factors were drawn from the personality, the perceived environment, and the Behavior systems of Problem Behavior Theory. The findings show a significant inverse relation between protection and Problem Behavior involvement. There is a significant interaction between protection and risk in the prediction of Problem Behavior: Protection is shown to moderate the relation of risk to Problem Behavior. Protective factors are also significant predictors of change in adolescent Problem Behavior over time. Direct effects of protection are consistent across all gender and racial/ethnic subgroups; moderator effects are evident for female, White, and Hispanic subgroups only.
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the cross national generality of Problem Behavior theory
2016Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Frances M Costa, Mark S Turbin, Hongchuan Zhang, Qi Fu-dong, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Changhai WangAbstract:An explanatory model of adolescent Problem Behavior (Problem drinking, cigarette smoking, and general delinquency) based on protective and risk factors in the individual and in 4 social contexts (family, peer group, school, and neighborhood) is employed in school-based samples from the People’s Republic of China (N = 1739) and the United States (N = 1596). Despite lower prevalence of the Problem Behaviors in the Chinese sample, especially for girls, a substantial account of Problem Behavior is provided by the same protective and risk factors in both countries and for both genders. Protection is generally higher in the Chinese sample than in the U.S. sample, but in both samples protection also moderates the impact of risk. Despite mean differences in psychosocial protective and risk factors, as well as in Problem Behavior, in the 2 samples—differences that may reflect societal variation—the explanatory model has, to a large extent, cross-national generality.
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Parsing Protection and Risk for Problem Behavior Versus Pro-social Behavior Among US and Chinese Adolescents
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2014Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, Mark S. TurbinAbstract:This study investigates the different roles played by protective factors and risk factors—and by particular protective and risk factors—when the concern is with accounting for adolescent Problem Behavior than when the concern is with accounting for adolescent pro-social Behavior. The protective and risk factor literature on adolescent Problem Behavior reveals considerable conceptual and operational ambiguity; an aim of the present study was to advance understanding in this domain of inquiry by providing a systematic conceptualization of protection and risk and of their measurement. Within the systematic framework of Problem Behavior Theory, four protective and four risk factors are assessed in a cross-national study of both Problem Behavior and pro-social Behavior involving large adolescent samples in China (N = 1,368) and the US (N = 1,087), in grades 9, 10, and 11; females 56 %, US; 50 %, China. The findings reveal quite different roles for protection and risk, and for particular protective and risk factors, when the outcome criterion is Problem Behavior than when it is pro-social Behavior. The protective factor, Controls Protection, which engages rule and regulations and sanctions in the adolescent’s ecology, emerges as most important in influencing Problem Behavior, but it plays a relatively minor role in relationship to pro-social Behavior. By contrast, Models Protection, the presence of pro-social models in the adolescent’s ecology, and Support Protection, the presence of interest and care in that same ecology, have no significant relationship to Problem Behavior variation, but they are both the major predictors of variation in pro-social Behavior. The findings are robust across the samples from the two very diverse societies. These results suggest that greater attention be given to protection in Problem Behavior research and that a more nuanced perspective is needed about the roles that particular protective and risk factors play in reducing Problem Behavior and in promoting pro-social Behavior.
John E Donovan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking Health Behavior and Problem Behavior in Adolescence
Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development, 2017Co-Authors: John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:Examined the relation of psychosocial and Behavioral conventionality-unconventionality to health-related Behavior in cross-sectional data from 1,588 male and female 7th to 12th graders. Conventionality-unconventionality was represented by personality, perceived social environment, and Behavior variables selected from the social-psychological framework of Problem Behavior Theory (R. Jessor & S. L. Jessor, 1977). Greater psychosocial conventionality correlates with more regular involvement in health-related Behavior (regular physical activity, adequate sleep, safety belt use, attention to healthy diet). Greater Behavioral conventionality (less involvement in Problem Behaviors such as marijuana use, Problem drinking, delinquent-type Behavior, and greater involvement in conventional Behaviors such as church attendance) was also associated with greater involvement in health-maintaining Behavior. The overall findings provide support for the extension of Problem Behavior Theory to the domain of adolescent health Behavior and for the relevance of the dimension of conventionality-unconventionality.
-
applying Problem Behavior theory to adolescent health Behavior
2017Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:This chapter seeks to embed variation in involvement in health-related Behavior within the larger psychosocial, explanatory framework of Problem Behavior Theory. It explores the relation of personality and perceived environment variables that are distal from health-related Behavior, i.e., that do not directly imply it, to variation in involvement in such Behavior. Personality variables such as Intolerant Attitudes toward Deviance, Expectations for Academic Achievement, and Perceived Life Chances in the Opportunity Structure were shown to be positively related to health-enhancing Behavior. In addition, an index of health-enhancing Behavior involvement was shown to be negatively related to an index of Problem Behavior involvement. These relations between health Behaviors and Problem Behaviors suggest a larger organization at the level of an individual’s health-related lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and contraceptive use in adolescence
2017Co-Authors: Frances M Costa, Richard Jessor, Dennis J Fortenberry, Richard Jessor, John E DonovanAbstract:This chapter explores the psychosocial and Behavioral factors associated with variation in contraceptive use among adolescents. Because regular use of contraception may be seen both as a conventional Behavior and as a health-protective Behavior, analyses assess the association between psychosocial conventionality and positive health orientation, on the one hand, and variation in contraceptive use, on the other. Analyses are based on an urban sample of 971 white, African-American, and Hispanic male and female sexually-active high school students. Study participants filled out a 38-page questionnaire that included a wide range of measures derived from Problem Behavior Theory. Correlational and hierarchical regression analysis indicate that more regular contraceptive use is associated with greater psychosocial conventionality and also with greater positive orientation toward health for both male and female adolescents. These relationships hold when the socio-demographic characteristics of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, grade in school, family composition, and pregnancy experience are controlled. The linkages of psychosocial conventionality and positive health orientation to contraceptive Behavior are stronger for African-American than for white and Hispanic adolescents. The findings establish a more comprehensive and more distal set of influences on regularity of contraceptive use. In its negative relationship to Problem Behavior and its positive linkage with health Behavior, contraceptive Behavior may be seen as part of a larger, organized Behavior system in adolescence, i.e., part of a more conventional lifestyle.
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Problem Behavior theory and the transition to young adulthood
2016Co-Authors: Richard Jessor, John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Frances M CostaAbstract:This chapter provides a summary of the theory and findings of the Young Adult Follow-Up Study, a two-wave, longitudinal research project that followed samples of high school and college youth who had participated, some eight and nine years earlier, in a four-wave longitudinal study. By the time of the second, young-adult data wave, the high school youth had reached the ages of 25, 26, and 27 and the college youth had reached the age of 30. This study, the first application of Problem Behavior Theory in young adulthood, yielded important developmental findings about this phase of the life course and about the theory. With regard to the theory, the cross-sectional, explanatory account it provided of Problem Behavior in young adulthood was as powerful as it had been in adolescence, accounting again for 40 % to 50 % of the variance. Equally impressive, the theoretical concepts measured in the fourth wave of the earlier longitudinal study, i.e., in adolescence, were strongly predictive of Problem Behavior variation in young adulthood, almost a decade later. With regard to psychosocial and Behavioral development across this transition, several important findings emerged. First, while there was a great deal of change between the two life stages, there was a great deal of continuity and stability in that change. Second, the overall direction of change was toward greater conventionality, a reversal of the direction of change that took place within the adolescent years. Third, Problem Behavior in young adulthood co-varied just as it did in adolescence and retained its organization as a syndrome. Finally, there was little evidence that involvement in Problem Behaviors in adolescence, even heavy involvement, had mortgaged the future or compromised the lives of these young people.
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Problem Behavior theory and the Problem Behavior syndrome
2016Co-Authors: John E Donovan, Richard Jessor, Richard JessorAbstract:Earlier bivariate findings suggested that diverse Problem Behaviors, including Problem drinking, illicit drug use, delinquent-type Behavior, and precocious sexual intercourse, may comprise a single Behavioral syndrome in samples of normal adolescents. A multivariate test of this possible syndrome was carried out through a series of maximum likelihood factor analyses based on self-report data from several samples of adolescents and youth. Analyses were performed by sex on four waves of panel data from a high school cohort and a college-age cohort, using their adolescent/college-age data as well as their data from young adulthood, and on multiple random subsamples of adolescents who participated in the 1978 National Study of Adolescent Drinking (Rachal et al., 1980). Results of the analyses consistently showed that one common factor accounts for the correlations among the different Problem Behaviors. The findings lend support to the notion of a syndrome of Problem Behavior in both adolescence and young adulthood.
