Assessing the patterns that prevent teenage pregnancy

Adolescence is a time of rapid developmental change and emotional upheaval as teenagers strive to assert their autonomy. In a similar vein, pregnancy--even under optimal circumstances with an adult mother--has been labelled a developmental crisis. Pregnancy during the teenage years has a synergistic effect, magnifying maturational changes in both the teenage girl and her infant. Recommended intervention strategies in cases of adolescent pregnancy should address not only the imminent mother-infant relationship, but the dyad's future transformations. One intervention technique is previewing, which is derived from the rhythms of adaptive exchange between mature mothers and their infants. The aim of previewing with adolescent parents is to help the teenager become more attuned to the infant's imminent developmental skills and to heighten their rapport.     

Enhancing intuitive skills among adolescent mothers

Studies indicate that adolescent mothers differ from adult mothers in their ability to interact with the infant in an adaptive fashion. In particular, teenage mothers appear to possess immature representational capacities which prevent them from predicting imminent infant achievement. As a result, they behave in a manner that undermines the emergence of new developmental skills in the infant. For example, the visual and vocal cues of adolescent mothers tend to be either subdued or absent, while holding behavior often fails to convey a sense of security. Physically punitive actions are also more common among these younger caregivers than among adult mothers. The application of a new developmental strategy referred to as previewing may, however, reverse these trends by fostering representational and interpersonal skills in adolescent mothers.     

Applying developmental previewing to the principles of family therapy

This paper discusses the application of principles of infant psychiatry to the diagnosis and treatment of multigenerational family conflict. Using a technique referred to as previewing, the therapist can focus on the interpersonal meaning that the infant's development precipitates in the family and determine how the parents' relationships with the infant replicate their relationships with their own families of origin. The therapist may then use these insights for overcoming conflict and for acclimating parents to new developmental skills in an optimal manner. Specific suggestions for how parents may promote more adaptive patterns of interaction with the infant using previewing are offered.     

Fatherhood and Delinquency: An Examination of Risk Factors and Offending Patterns Associated with Fatherhood Status among Serious Juvenile Offenders

Despite a large body of literature across multiple disciplines on adolescent motherhood, adolescent fathers have been largely absent from empirical research. Previous findings suggest that young men who experience multiple risk factors across a range of life domains have a high likelihood of becoming fathers at an early age, which can negatively impact their developmental trajectories and age-normative transitions (e.g. from school to work). However, little is known about the risk factors for fatherhood among high-risk juvenile offenders; nor is it well understood how fatherhood is related to criminal behavior in this population. The current study investigated risk factors and offending patterns associated with adolescent fatherhood status in a sample of serious juvenile offenders (N?=?1170). Consistent with previous studies, fatherhood status was associated with greater risk exposure among serious juvenile offenders. Furthermore, change in fatherhood status was associated with higher levels of overall offending, aggressive offending, income-related offending, and non-drug-related income offending. In light of these findings, we propose that supports and resources are needed to facilitate juvenile offenders in their role as fathers during this time.     

藏语阅读中中央凹词频效应及对副中央凹预视效应的影响

在不同语言文字系统中, 对于眼动控制的本质及其发生机制, 尤其是阅读过程中注意资源的分配是序列分布还是平行分布的问题, 目前仍然存在着争论和分歧。藏语是拼音文字, 但它同时又具有汉语的特点, 独具语言特色。因此, 通过对藏语阅读过程中中央凹词频对副中央凹预视效应影响这一问题的探讨, 可以在一种已有研究未曾涉及的文字系统中进一步推动上述争议的解决。本研究采用眼动记录法, 设计了两个实验。实验1操纵了中央凹词频(高频、低频), 考察藏语阅读中中央凹词的词频效应及词频延迟效应, 结果发现, 藏语阅读中存在词频效应及词频延迟效应。实验2同时操纵中央凹词频和副中央凹预视词类型, 借助边界范式, 考察藏语阅读中副中央凹预视效应及中央凹词频对副中央凹预视效应的影响, 结果发现, 藏语阅读中存在副中央凹预视效应, 且与低频中央凹词相比, 高频中央凹词对副中央凹预视效应的促进作用更大。两个实验结果表明:(1)藏语阅读中存在显著的词频效应, 且表现在词汇加工的整个过程; (2)藏语阅读中存在显著的词频延迟效应, 并贯穿于词汇加工的整个过程; (3)藏语阅读中存在显著的副中央凹预视效应, 读者能通过副中央凹预视提取到语音和字形信息。藏语阅读中中央凹词频影响副中央凹预视效应的大小, 且词频只在词汇加工的早期对形的预视信息的提取产生影响, 即在形似预视条件下高频词的预视效应更大; (4)本研究发现的词频延迟效应及副中央凹预视效应, 支持了E-Z读者模型中有关副中央凹序列加工的观点。     

The evolutionary basis of risky adolescent behavior: implications for science, policy, and practice

This article proposes an evolutionary model of risky behavior in adolescence and contrasts it with the prevailing developmental psychopathology model. The evolutionary model contends that understanding the evolutionary functions of adolescence is critical to explaining why adolescents engage in risky behavior and that successful intervention depends on working with, instead of against, adolescent goals and motivations. The current article articulates 5 key evolutionary insights into risky adolescent behavior: (a) The adolescent transition is an inflection point in development of social status and reproductive trajectories; (b) interventions need to address the adaptive functions of risky and aggressive behaviors like bullying; (c) risky adolescent behavior adaptively calibrates over development to match both harsh and unpredictable environmental conditions; (d) understanding evolved sex differences is critical for understanding the psychology of risky behavior; and (e) mismatches between current and past environments can dysregulate adolescent behavior, as demonstrated by age-segregated social groupings. The evolutionary model has broad implications for designing interventions for high-risk youth and suggests new directions for research that have not been forthcoming from other perspectives.     

发展资源在减少青少年外化问题行为中的累积效应及关系模式

以1219名初一学生为被试进行间隔一年的追踪研究, 考察了发展资源对青少年当前和一年后外化问题行为的累积效应及其关系模式, 并进一步探讨了性别在关系模式中可能存在的调节作用。结果表明：(1)发展资源对青少年当前和一年后外化问题行为的减少均具有累积效应, 具体而言, 发展资源对青少年当前外化问题行为的累积效应呈二次函数的非线性模式, 而对青少年一年后外化问题行为的累积效应呈线性模式; (2)性别的调节作用仅在累积发展资源与青少年当前外化问题行为间的二次函数模式中显著。研究结果为有针对性地进行资源构建, 预防和减少青少年外化问题行为提供了依据。     

"You learn and learn and learn.... and then you are an adult": parental perceptions of adolescence in contemporary Swaziland

The developmental period of adolescence is explored in Swaziland from a multidisciplinary perspective. The study compares early anthropological research with contemporary interviews of Swazi parents. While the Swazi language, siSwati, does not have a term for "adolescent," there is evidence of a definite developmental period which could be defined as adolescence. Parents view this period as being qualitatively different from childhood and adulthood, but they also have gender-related interpretations of its nature and length. While biological maturation (especially menarche for females) is viewed as a vital step in becoming an adult, behaviors must be learned during this time (i.e., "adolescence") before one is completely of adult status.     

Modeling Incomplete Longitudinal Substance Use Data Using Latent Variable Growth Curve Methodology

Longitudinal data sets typically suffer from attrition and other forms of missing data. When this common problem occurs, several researchers have demonstrated that correct maximum likelihood estimation with missing data can be obtained under mild assumptions concerning the missing data mechanism. With reasonable substantive theory, a mixture of cross-sectional and longitudinal methods developed within multiple-group structural equation modeling can provide a strong basis for inference about developmental change. Using an approach to the analysis of missing data, the present study investigated developmental trends in adolescent (N = 759) alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use across a 5-year period using multiple-group latent growth modeling. An associative model revealed that common developmental trends existed for all three substances. Age and gender were included in the model as predictors of initial status and developmental change. Findings discuss the utility of latent variable structural equation modeling techniques and missing data approaches in the study of developmental change.     

ANTECEDENT CONTROL OF ORAL READING ERRORS AND SELF-CORRECTIONS BY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN

Academic behaviors can be enhanced through the manipulation of either consequent or antecedent stimuli. In this study, we evaluated the effects of manipulating two antecedent stimulus events with respect to oral reading errors and self-corrections of four mentally retarded children. Using an alternating treatments design, the effects of previewing the target text and previewing an unrelated text were evaluated against no-previewing. In the first previewing condition, the teacher discussed the target text with the children before they were required to read it orally. The same procedure was used in the other previewing condition but with the provision that an unrelated text was previewed. Oral reading errors decreased and self-corrections increased when the children previewed the target text with their teacher before reading it orally. No changes were observed as a result of implementing the other two procedures, previewing an unrelated text and no-previewing. The results, which were consistent across all four children, showed that reading proficiency can be increased by manipulating antecedent stimulus events prior to oral reading.     

Adolescent acting out when a parent has cancer

The psychological stresses which cancer exerts on a family system can be immense, both situationally and developmentally. These stresses can be unusually intense for the adolescent who has a parent ill with cancer. They can impact upon the adolescent in overt ways, such as increased household or child care duties, or in more covert ways such as in subtle role shifts in the relationship between the adolescent and both the ill and the well parent. The covert role shifts are especially thought to promote acting out and potential decompensation on the part of the adolescent. The acting out can have system-defecting and system-unifying properties, with the decompensation secondary to unbearable role shifts that reintensify the adolescent emotional contact with parents in the midst of a developmental process of separation. General clinical intervention points are suggested to reduce the crisis and ameliorate the negative developmental potential.1979, Fall     

Adolescent acting out when a parent has cancer

The psychological stresses which cancer exerts on a family system can be immense, both situationally and developmentally. These stresses can be unusually intense for the adolescent who has a parent ill with cancer. They can impact upon the adolescent in overt ways, such as increased household or child care duties, or in more covert ways such as in subtle role shifts in the relationship between the adolescent and both the ill and the well parent. The covert role shifts are especially thought to promote acting out and potential decompensation on the part of the adolescent. The acting out can have system-defecting and sytem-unifying properties, with the decompensation secondary to unbearable role shifts that reintensify the adolescent emotional contact with parents in the midst of a developmental process of separation. General clinical intervention points are suggested to reduce the crisis and ameliorate the negative developmental potential.     

Testing reality during adolescence: the contribution of Erikson's concepts of fidelity and developmental actuality

The process of reality testing can be thought of as a lifespan developmental line, where adolescence provides a critical developmental advance but not an endpoint. Erikson's concepts of fidelity and developmental actuality provide a frame of reference for considering this. Three means of reality testing are identified--contemplation, action, and conversation--where these modes of approach can be used separately or in concert to clarify the reality status of situations and phenomena. These methods of testing reality are illustrated within four arenas of adolescent functioning-thought, time, parental representations, and the experience of the embodied self.     

Do the Effects of Adolescent Employment Differ by Employment Intensity and Neighborhood Context?

Research on the effects of adolescent employment on primarily middle‐class youth suggests that intense employment, working more than 15 or 20 hours during the school year, is associated with increased participation in risky behavior. Despite these findings, scholars who focus on the development of youth living in low‐income urban areas often hypothesize that adolescent employment will have beneficial effects on this population. There is some evidence that adolescent employment is associated with increased educational achievement and adult employment for low‐income urban youth. The impact of adolescent employment on future engagement in risky behavior across levels of neighborhood deprivation and employment intensity was investigated on a sample of 1,057 adolescents from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, a longitudinal study of neighborhood effects on development. After controlling for individual characteristics, intense employment during adolescence did predict increased use of cigarettes and alcohol and having a greater number of sexual partners 2 years after employment was measured. There were no significant interactions between neighborhood SES and adolescent employment status on involvement in risky behavior. These findings suggest that intense adolescent employment is associated with detrimental developmental outcomes for youth regardless neighborhood context.     

Childhood and adolescent onset conduct disorder: a test of the developmental taxonomy

Hypotheses generated by a developmental taxonomy that distinguishes between childhood and adolescent onset conduct disorders were tested. Hypotheses predicted that (1) individual and familial factors would be more strongly related to childhood onset conduct disorder, whereas ethnic minority status and exposure to deviant peers would be more strongly related to adolescent onset conduct disorder and (2) individuals with childhood onset disorder would be more likely to commit violent and victim oriented offenses than individuals with adolescent onset conduct disorder. The first hypothesis was strongly supported and the second hypothesis was partially supported. Implications for early identification of youth at risk for chronic offending are discussed.     

Adolescent health. Challenges for behavioral scientists

Clearly, the role of behavioral scientists in adolescent health is not limited to service delivery. They also have a role to play via their contributions to basic knowledge of adolescent health and development, their involvement with the design and evaluation of health systems, their efforts to design and evaluate interventions to reduce adolescent morbidity and mortality, and their contributions to adolescent health policy. The once popular view of adolescence as a period of inevitable storm and stress has been replaced by one that emphasizes the potential of this developmental stage for constructive adaptation and maturation. Behavioral scientists have an important role to play in assuring that the potential of this life stage is reached for future generations of youth.     

Interventions for Suicidal Youth: A Review of the Literature and Developmental Considerations

Suicidal behavior is developmentally mediated, but the degree to which interventions for suicidal behaviors have been developmentally tailored has varied widely. Published controlled studies of psychosocial treatment interventions for reducing adolescent suicidal behavior are reviewed, with a particular emphasis on the developmental nuances of these interventions. In addition, developmental considerations important in the treatment of suicidal adolescents are discussed. There are insufficient data available from controlled trials to recommend one intervention over another for the treatment of suicidal youth, but interventions that are sensitive to the multiple developmental contexts have potential for greater effectiveness in reducing adolescent suicidal behavior.     

Parent–Adolescent Collaboration: An Interpersonal Model for Understanding Optimal Interactions

Current parent–adolescent behavioral interaction research highlights the importance of three elements of behavior in defining adaptive interactions: autonomy, control, and warmth vs. hostility. However, this research has largely addressed the developmental needs and psychosocial outcomes of adolescents, as opposed to parents, with a focus on how parent and adolescent behaviors influence adolescent adaptation. This paper utilizes both adolescent and mid-life developmental research, as well as parent–adolescent interaction research, to introduce a model for conceptualizing parent–adolescent interactions as a transactional process in which both parental and adolescent development are considered. Further, ideas are presented describing how adaptive parent–adolescent interactions may change across adolescence. The concept of collaboration is proposed as a conceptual tool for assessing one form of adaptive parent–adolescent interactions. The structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) is presented as a model for studying the complex reciprocal processes that occur in parent–adolescent interpersonal processes.     

The relationship between puberty and risk taking in the real world and in the laboratory

Adolescence is marked by the emergence and escalation of risk taking. Puberty has been long-implicated as constituting vulnerability for risk behavior during this developmental period. Sole reliance on self-reports of risk taking however poses limitations to understanding this complex relationship. There exist potential advantages of complementing self-reports by using the BART-Y laboratory task, a well-validated measure of adolescent risk taking. Toward this end, we examined the association between self-reported puberty and both self-reported and BART-Y risk taking in 231 adolescents. Results showed that pubertal status predicted risk taking using both methodologies above and beyond relevant demographic characteristics. Advantages of a multimodal assessment toward understanding the effects of puberty in adolescent risk taking are discussed and future research directions offered.     

Sexual Minority Youth,Social Change,and Health: A Developmental Collision

Few societal attitudes and opinions have changed as quickly as those regarding sexual minority people and rights. In the context of dramatic social change, there have been multiple policy changes toward social inclusion and rights for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people, and perceptions that the sociocultural context for LGB people—perhaps particularly for youth—has improved. Yet recent evidence from the developmental sciences points to paradoxical findings: in many cases there have been growing rather than shrinking health disparities. The authors suggest that there is a developmental collision between normative adolescent developmental processes and sexual minority youth identities and visibility.