Illicit drug use and risky sexual behavior among African American and Puerto Rican urban adolescents: the longitudinal links

The authors assessed whether (a) early illicit drug use predicted later risky sexual activity, (b) early risky sex predicted later illicit drug use, and (c) common factors affected both risky sexual behavior and illicit drug use. African American and Puerto Rican youth completed questionnaires in their classrooms at Time 1 (T1) and face-to-face interviews with the authors in their homes 5 years later at Time 2 (T2). Logistic regression analyses showed the association between T1 illicit drug use and T2 risky sexual activity and between T1 risky sexual behavior and T2 illicit drug use. With few exceptions, T1 illicit drug use was associated with all of the T2 risky sexual behaviors. After controlling for demographic factors, the authors found that multiple sex partners at T1 was not related to illicit drug use at T2. Condom use at T1 was related to illicit drug use at T2, whereas sexually transmitted diseases and adolescent pregnancy were not related to this drug use. The findings indicated that assessments of and treatments for substance use should focus on the risky sexual behaviors that seem to accompany illicit drug use.     

Tobacco use and health in young adulthood

In this prospective longitudinal study, the authors investigated the association between lifetime tobacco use and subsequent health problems by age 30. The authors interviewed a community group of 749 participants from upstate New York at mean ages of 14, 16, 22, and 27 years. Daily tobacco use during any of the time periods, as well as the number of periods of daily tobacco use, were significantly associated with increased risk for respiratory ailments, neurobehavioral and cognitive problems, and general malaise. The results suggested that daily tobacco use, either during childhood, adolescence, the early 20s, or a combination of those times, predicted health problems by age 30. Effective smoking prevention programs that begin in childhood are imperative to prevent the occurrence of later health problems.     

Developmental Trajectories of Religious Service Attendance: Predictors of Nicotine Dependence and Alcohol Dependence/Abuse in Early Midlife

Journal of Religion and Health - This longitudinal study assesses the associations between developmental trajectories of religious service attendance from mean age 14 to mean age 43 and nicotine...     

Exposure to Parental Cigarette Smoking and Child Problem Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study

This study examined exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), a major public health problem. ETS has been found to be associated with an increased risk of adverse health effects in children. This study utilizes data from a community-based, longitudinal investigation examining the relation between children’s exposure to ETS and later internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. Interviews were administered to a representative community sample of participants from two New York State counties in 1983, with subsequent interviews in 1985–1986, 1992, 1997, and 2002–2003 (when the participants’ mean age was 32). Data was collected on various personality and behavioral characteristics of the participants, and on internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors demonstrated by their children. Results indicated that children’s exposure to ETS was associated with an increased risk for both internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors. This relationship was maintained despite control on a number of parental psychosocial risk factors (e.g., demographic variables, personality and behavioral attributes) that have been found to be associated with both parental cigarette smoking and behavior problems among children. These data, which indicate an association between exposure to ETS and internalizing symptoms and externalizing behaviors among children, support public health policies to further restrict children’s exposure to ETS.     

The smoking patterns of women in their forties: their relationship to later osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is prevalent among women 50 years of age and older and accounts for numerous fractures and the related deaths of many sufferers. In this study, 22.4% of the women reported having osteoporosis. Smoking contributes substantially to osteoporotic fractures. This study assessed how different trajectories of women's smoking, covering the ages 40 to 48 years, relate to osteoporosis at age 65. Trajectory analysis of tobacco use data reveals smoking patterns which may have differing relationships to osteoporosis. Logistic regression analyses revealed the varying relationships of different smoking patterns to osteoporosis. As hypothesized, the chronic/heavy smokers were significantly more likely than the non-smokers to report having osteoporosis. Quitters and moderate smokers did not differ significantly from non-smokers on the osteoporosis measure. Chronic/heavy smokers should not be the only focus of public health efforts to reduce smoking and the associated risks of osteoporosis. The findings also highlight the efficacy of women smokers quitting in their 40s in order to reduce their likelihood of contracting osteoporosis.     

Pathways to children's externalizing behavior: a three-generation study

In this study, based on Family Interactional Theory (FIT), the authors tested a longitudinal model of the intergenerational effects of the grandmothers' parent-child relationships and the grandparents' smoking on the grandchildren's externalizing behavior via parents' psychological symptoms, tobacco use, and child rearing. Using Mplus, the authors obtained a structural equation model that demonstrated generational associations from grandmothers (G1) to parents (G2) to their oldest children (G3) and thus was in accord with FIT. They identified a pathway from the grandmothers' parenting to the grandchildren's externalizing behavior via the parents' psychological symptoms, their smoking, and their child rearing. Parents' psychological symptoms in adolescence were associated with their tobacco use in their late twenties, controlling for the continuity of their psychological symptoms and their tobacco use. This 3-generational model adds to the literature on parent-child relationships (G1), smoking from adolescence to early adulthood (G2), and externalizing behavior in the G3 child.     

Cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms: a longitudinal study of adolescents and young adults

Cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms have been shown to be related in previous research. This paper examined the relationship between cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms in a longitudinal sample of 688 adolescents and young adults through surveys conducted over 13 yr. The results indicate that a history of earlier cigarette smoking in adolescence predicts later depressive symptoms in the late twenties. The study also suggests that depressive symptoms during adolescence predict cigarette smoking in the late twenties but not above and beyond prior smoking. These results help clarify and expand current knowledge on the links between cigarette smoking and depression. The results point to several clinical implications for treatment of both cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms among both adolescents and young adults.     

Developmental associations between externalizing behaviors, peer delinquency, drug use, perceived neighborhood crime, and violent behavior in urban communities

This study examines the precursors of violent behavior among urban, racial/ethnic minority adults. Data are from an on-going study of male and female African Americans and Puerto Ricans, interviewed at four time waves, Time 1-Time 4 (T1-T4), from adolescence to adulthood. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the developmental pathways, beginning in mid-adolescence (T1; age = 14.0 years), to violent behavior in adulthood (T4; age = 29.2 years). The variables assessed were: components of externalizing behaviors (i.e., rebelliousness, delinquency; T1, T3); illicit drug use (T2); peer delinquency (T2); perceived neighborhood crime (T4); and violent behavior (T3, T4). Results showed that the participants' externalizing behaviors (rebelliousness and delinquency) were relatively stable from mid-adolescence (T1; age = 14.0 years) to early adulthood (T3; age = 24.4 years). The participants' externalizing behaviors in mid-adolescence also had a direct pathway to peer delinquency in late adolescence (T2; age = 19.1 years). Peer delinquency, in turn, had a direct pathway to the participants' illicit drug use in late adolescence (T2), and to externalizing behaviors in early adulthood (T3). The participants' illicit drug use (T2; age = 19.1 years) had both direct and indirect paths to violent behavior in adulthood (T4). The participants' externalizing behaviors in early adulthood (T3) were linked with violent behavior at T3, and perceived neighborhood crime (T4), both of which had direct pathways to violent behavior in adulthood (T4). The findings suggest developmental periods during which externalizing behaviors, exposure to delinquent peers, illegal drug use, and neighborhood crime could be targeted by prevention and intervention programs in order to reduce violent behavior.