Peer influence and drug use among adolescents in rural areas

A sample of 1,004 eighth and tenth grade students in twenty-three small Central/East Texas communities was assessed to determine 1) their perception of the number of their friends who use drugs, 2) the amount of information they received about drugs from their friends, and 3) the connection between those perceptions and drug use. A multiple regression model which included grade, gender, the degree to which friends are perceived to use drugs and the amount of information about drugs received from friends explained 39 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. An item specific analysis of the subcomponents of these composite variables explained 44 percent of the variance in the degree to which rural adolescents were involved in drug use. This same four-factor model accurately classified over 81 percent of non-drug-users and 67 percent of users using discriminant analysis. Students who perceived a higher degree of drug use among their friends and who received more information about drugs from their friends used drugs more frequently. Lower marijuana use in these rural areas as compared to the nation, both as a peer perception and as a fact, may protect these students to a degree from broader patterns of drug use. The findings of this study support the theory that peer pressure is related to drug abuse, even in rural areas.     

Psychosocial,Motivational, and Contextual Profiles of Youth Reporting Different Patterns of Substance Use During Adolescence

This research examined patterns of substance use and academic factors among a sample of 733 African‐American and European‐American adolescents from a metropolitan area. First, youth were classified into 11th grade high, moderate, or no substance use groups and classified as users, initiators, desistors, and nonusers based on eighth and 11th grade use. Nonusers did not differ in eighth grade from 11th grade moderate users and initiators over time. Eighth graders who reported misbehavior and having low‐achieving friends were more likely to be high 11th grade users and users at both grades. Direct achievement effects were not found; however, interactions indicated achievement was protective when paired with having fun at school, high task value, and low levels of socioeconomic status (SES); and was a risk factor when paired with positive self regard, low fun at school and high SES. Cluster analyses indicated the most prevalent group of substance users reported high grades, social reasons for going to school, and having friends who do well in school.     

Adolescents' and Mothers' Understanding of Children's Rights in the Home

Adolescents' and mothers' understanding of children's self‐determination and nurturance rights was examined in the context of the home. In individual interviews, 141 sixth, eighth, and tenth graders and their mothers responded to hypothetical vignettes in which a child story character wished to exercise a right that conflicted with parental practices. For each vignette, participants were asked to judge whether the story character should have the right in question and to provide a justification for their decision. Generally, eighth and tenth graders were more likely than their mothers to endorse requests for self‐determination and less likely than their mothers to support requests for nurturance. Mothers of tenth graders were more likely to support requests for self‐determination and less likely to favor adolescents' request for nurturance in the home than were mothers of sixth and eighth graders. In terms of reasoning, adolescents and mothers were more likely to consider the individuals' rights when discussing self‐determination situations, whereas nurturance situations elicited responses pertaining to participants' understanding of familial roles and relationships. Furthermore, mothers' reasoning about childrenà s rights reflected sensitivity to the developmental level of their children. The findings are discussed in terms of previous research on the development of children's understanding of rights and adolescent autonomy.     

Identity Development as a Mediating Factor Between Urban Poverty and Behavioral Outcomes for Junior High School Students

This study examines the developmental issue of identity development among 102 eighth graders living in a context of economic hardship. Results show that links between economic deprivation and behavioral outcomes were mediated by identity development for two of three outcomes. Support also was found for the hypothesis that content-specific identity development is more strongly related to behavioral outcomes than global assessments of identity development. Much of the research on youth living in urban poverty has focused on problem behaviors, such as drug use or dropping out of school. Less is known about how normal developmental transitions are resolved. Results are discussed relative to the protective nature of identity development and to theoretical and methodological issues regarding measuring identity development within specific populations.     

Suicide ideation among a stratified sample of rural and urban adolescents

This study examined factors associated with sucidal ideation among a stratified sample of rural and urban adolescents. Data was collected on 1,728 eighth and tenth grade southern Nevada students from 23 schools. No overall differences were found between rural and urban adolescents, although results did indicate that grade, gender, and school achievement variations exist between rural and urban student populations. Implications for social workers and other youth service providers are discussed.     

Ethnic pride, biculturalism, and drug use norms of urban American Indian adolescents

This study examines how strength of ethnic identity, multiethnic identity, and other indicators of biculturalism relate to the drug use norms of urban American Indian middle school students. The article distinguishes categories of norms that may affect drug use. Regression analysis of self-reports by 434 American Indian seventh graders attending middle schools in a large southwestern U.S. city indicated that students who had a more intense sense of ethnic pride adhered more strongly to certain antidrug norms than those who did not. Whereas American Indian students with better grades in school held consistently stronger antidrug norms, there were few differences by gender, socioeconomic status, or age. These results have implications in social work practice for better understanding and strengthening the protective aspects of American Indian culture in drug prevention efforts.     

Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention in a Rural Native American Community

Nationally, the United States has a higher rate of teen pregnancy than any other industrialized nation. Native American youth have a higher birth rate than the national rate. A full-year healthy relationship program, based on Native American teachings, traditions, and cultural norms, was delivered to all eighth-grade students at a rural tribal school and a new group of eighth graders every year for 5 years, to teach healthy relationships and encourage abstinence. This article summarizes the Discovery Dating curriculum and compares the participants in the healthy relationship program to the comparison group, at the end of 5 years, in regards of the number of pregnancies as well as self-reported sexual behavior. The comparison group comprises students in the same community who attended a public middle school, rather than the tribal middle school, but the same public high school. All students had a similar age, socioeconomic status, culture, and ethnicity. Students who received the healthy relationship program (treatment group) had fewer pregnancies than the students who did not receive the healthy relationship program (comparison group). Of those who reported that they were sexually active, the students who received the healthy relationship program (treatment group) reported higher condom use than the students who did not receive the healthy relationship program (comparison group).     

Impact evaluation of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE).

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) on fifth-grade students in the Long Beach Unified School District in Long Beach, California. The research suggests that DARE does not significantly change the amount of drug use, which is minimal at the fifth grade level. In general, children receiving DARE during the study period maintained existing levels of drug abuse. Approximately 3,000 students participated in the study. A pretest and posttest self-report survey was utilized during the Fall 1989 semester for experimental and control groups. As DARE programs gain popularity in other school districts, school administrators need more information on the program to decide if DARE should be presented in their schools. Administrative decision-making must consider program effectiveness and curriculum time constraints.     

The Peer Context of Adolescent Substance Use: Findings from Social Network Analysis

To examine the peer context of adolescent substance use, social network analysis was used to measure three domains of attributes of peer networks: social embeddedness, social status, and social proximity to substance users. The sample was a panel of 5,104 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in three public school systems surveyed every 6 months for five assessments. Hierarchical generalized linear models showed that adolescents less embedded in the network, with greater status, and with closer social proximity to peer substance users were more likely to use substances. Also, adolescents in less dense networks and networks with higher smoking prevalence were more likely to smoke and use marijuana. Results establish the utility of social network analysis for measuring peer context and indicate that conventionality of relationships—having friends in the network, being liked but not too well liked, and having fewer friends who use substances—is most beneficial.     

Risk factors for drug use in rural adolescents.

This study tested the relevance of a risk factor model for predicting drug use among rural adolescents. A questionnaire battery assessing drug use and the presence/absence of twenty risk factors derived from a previous study of urban adolescents was administered to a sample of seventh graders (N = 235) in the public school system of a rural community. All but one of these risk factors were found to be significantly related to at least one category of drug use. In addition, a risk factor index based on a subset of ten risk factors was significantly associated with the prevalence and frequency of use for cigarettes, beer and wine, hard liquor, marijuana, and other drugs. These findings support the generalizability of a risk factor approach to predicting drug use, and underscore the need for increased prevention and research efforts directed at rural adolescents.     

Perceptions of sources of sex education and targets of sex communication: sociodemographic and cohort effects.

As part of a larger survey study on young adult sexuality conducted over a 17-year period at a Midwest U.S. university, more than 6,000 college students completed questions on the sources of their sex education and the degree to which they have communicated about sex with various types of individuals. Participants reported receiving more sex education from peers and media than from parents (and mothers more than fathers). Respondents also reported communicating more about sex with peers than with parents or any other categories of individuals. Differences were found in the degree of sex education from various sources and in communication with various targets based on gender, ethnic background, and social class. Furthermore, changes were found over the 17-year period. More recent cohorts of students perceived that they received more sex education from media, peers, and professionals, and communicated more about sex with professionals, relative to earlier cohorts.     

NEWSPAPER EFFECTS ON POLICY PREFERENCES

This research offers clear evidence that what is presented inthe media influences the policy preferences of the Americanpublic. More important, it reconciles some earlier problemsthat led to an inability to determine the approximate relationshipsbetween television and newspaper information concerning policy.By correcting some methodological problems in earlier attemptsto examine the impact of New York Times policy news, I am ableto conclude that different actors or news sources do indeedhave differential impacts on public opinion and that in bothnewspaper items and television broadcasts experts and commentatorswield heavy influence.     

Perceptions of Sources of Sex Education and Targets of Sex Communication: Sociodemographic and Cohort Effects

As part of a larger survey study on young adult sexuality conducted over a 17-year period at a Midwest U.S. university, more than 6,000 college students completed questions on the sources of their sex education and the degree to which they have communicated about sex with various types of individuals. Participants reported receiving more sex education from peers and media than from parents (and mothers more than fathers). Respondents also reported communicating more about sex with peers than with parents or any other categories of individuals. Differences were found in the degree of sex education from various sources and in communication with various targets based on gender, ethnic background, and social class. Furthermore, changes were found over the 17-year period. More recent cohorts of students perceived that they received more sex education from media, peers, and professionals, and communicated more about sex with professionals, relative to earlier cohorts.     

Do resources of network members help in help seeking? Social capital and health information search

Does social capital as resources of network members affect health information search? Analyzing data from the 2004 General Social Survey in the United States, this study measures two social capital indicators (average education of network members and proportion of network members with a high school degree or higher) using the name generator. Most results are consistent using those two indicators. Both indicators are positively associated with frequency of health information seeking and seekers’ frequency of use of two sources (friends or relatives and the Internet). Also average education of network members is positively associated with seekers’ diversity of used sources and frequency of consultation with medical professionals. But neither indicator is associated with seekers’ frequency of use of other four sources (health-related magazines or newsletters, general magazines, daily newspapers, and radio or television programs). The findings demonstrate the theoretical utility of social capital in the social dynamics of medical help-seeking.     

Nonmetropolitan sexual and gender minority youths' friendships: Perceptions of social support among SGM and non-SGM peers

ABSTRACT

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are at risk of victimization which can lead to poor outcomes. Social support can mitigate the effects of minority stressors, yet little is known about social support among nonmetropolitan SGM youth. This study utilized minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) and Weeks' (1996) theory of how sexual minority communities are constructed to understand how nonmetropolitan SGM youth perceive the support they receive from SGM and non-SGM friends. Qualitative interviews were conducted with nonmetropolitan SGM youth. Youth received general emotional support, relationship advice, and protection from SGM and non-SGM friends. From their SGM friends, participants reported receiving greater closeness and emotional intimacy and assistance with SGM identity development. Participants indicated that receiving acceptance for their SGM identity was important from their non-SGM friends. Participants also discussed the limits to support their non-SGM friends could offer. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Mediated and moderated effects of political communication on civic participation

Australian scholars and politicians have long been concerned about politically uninformed and inactive young Australians. However, few efforts have been made to explain how the use of traditional and online media may affect youth’s participation in politics. Our research utilises the citizen communication mediation model and extends the expected mediation chain by an additional examination of the possible interactions between news media use and political discussions, as suggested by the differential gains model. Using representative data from Australian 10th graders, we examine whether and how news media usage (newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet) affects expected participation in a range of civic and political activities conditional of discussions about political issues (with family, friends, and online). Path models account for additional mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) and control variables to explain future civic and political participation. The results suggest that news media use stimulates political discussions, although different media exert differential effects. Yet, news exposure hardly influences the second mediators (civic knowledge and civic efficacy) in a direct manner. In fact, civic knowledge and efficacy mediate the relationships between political communication and participation, both directly and sequentially. Moderation analyses clarify that despite the mediating role of political discussions, news media exposure also influences (future) civic participation contingent of students’ engagement in (primarily Internet-based) discussions about political and social issues. We emphasise the significance of these results with reference to previous research, discuss potential directions for future research, and draw conclusions for civics and citizenship education.     

THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION AND RISK PERCEPTION ON THE HURRICANE EVACUATION DECISION-MAKING OF GREATER NEW ORLEANS RESIDENTS

This article contributes to the current discussion on how residents living in vulnerable areas make the decision to evacuate when they are in harms way. Key in this discussion is the question, what role does information and risk play in shaping evacuation behavior? This study used a sample of respondents from the greater New Orleans region (Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard Parishes) of the Twelve Parish Survey (N = 1,207) conducted prior to Hurricane Katrina. The findings indicate that information sources are vitally important in the evacuation process. By examining the role of information from authorities, family, and friends; visual imagery; and the media we found that individuals use a variety of sources when they decide to evacuate. Further, the importance of visual imagery in the evacuation process is discussed. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of information dissemination and its importance to members of the media and public policy makers.     

The Effect of Vocabulary Size on Toddlers' Receptiveness to Unexpected Testimony About Category Membership

Children must be willing to accept some of what they hear “on faith,” even when that testimony conflicts with their own expectations. The study reported here investigated the relation among vocabulary size, object recognition, and 24‐month‐olds' (N = 40) willingness to accept potentially surprising testimony about the category to which an object belongs. Results showed that children with larger vocabularies were better able to recognize atypical exemplars of familiar categories than children with smaller vocabularies. However, they were also most likely to accept unexpected testimony that an object that looked like a member of one familiar category was actually a member of another. These results indicate that 24‐month‐olds trust classifications provided by adult labeling patterns even when they conflict with the classifications children generate on their own.     

Children Photographing Well‐being: Facilitating Participation in Research

Children aged 8–12 years took 723 photographs representing well‐being. Another group of children categorised the photographs, identified what was missing and discussed their inter‐relationships. The largest categories were ‘people I love the most (friends)’ (23.2%), ‘activities’ (18%), ‘food and drink’ (17.2%) and ‘animals/pets’ (12.8%). Children reported that the categories were all related and could be subsumed into the general category ‘the way I live’, reflecting their holistic integrationist perspective on well‐being which in turn mirrors the whole child perspective of the Irish National Children's Strategy. The usefulness and limitations of this approach to working with children are discussed. Copyright © 2005 National Children's Bureau.     

Tobacco prevention in North Carolina public schools

The purpose of this study is to report on the extent of, and organization for, tobacco prevention education in North Carolina Public Schools. Moreover, issues for the diffusion of tobacco prevention curricula are discussed. A questionnaire examining tobacco education practices and curriculum within school districts was mailed to health education representatives in each of the North Carolina public school districts. One-hundred twenty-five usable questionnaires were returned for analysis (125/140 = 89.3%). Of the school districts responding to the survey, 101 (80.8%) reported having adopted a system-wide curriculum which includes tobacco-related instruction. Additionally, a large percentage of the school districts with an adopted curriculum were using commercially published materials (85.2%). Large tobacco producing counties in North Carolina were not significantly different than other counties in the adoption or public acceptance of school programs with a tobacco prevention component. However, school systems with an adopted, general tobacco use policy for the district were more likely to have adopted a district-wide tobacco education curriculum. Individual schools were also involved with multiple tobacco prevention curriculum and learning programs. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, the sample reported using a total of twelve different programs. Many of these learning programs lacked necessary elements of effective programs. Key diffusion issues included the impact of multi-tobacco curricula use to the introduction of new and effective material, as well as the association between district-wide tobacco use policies and the adoption of curriculum.