Adolescent Social Behavior Research Articles

Making Youth Violence Prevention a National Priority

Making Youth Violence Prevention a National Priority

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) State-Of-the-Science Conference on Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents — A Commentary

Although youth in the United States remain substantially more violent than adolescents and young adults in most industrial countries, the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) State-of-the-Science Conference on Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents identified many reasons for optimism about our capacity to develop effective prevention and intervention responses. The research is getting better and contrary to popular opinion we do know a lot about what does work. Future advances will depend upon our insistence on the use of effectiveness evidence and the development of a taxonomy which will facilitate cross disciplinary communication.

Professionalizing the Practice of Public Policy in the Prevention of Violence

The State of the Science Conference Statement on "Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents" accurately summarizes the state of knowledge regarding risk factors for violence and intervention efficacy. The Statement missed an opportunity, however, to move the field of prevention practice and policy forward by advocating for more systematic, central review of preventive interventions through a new federal regulatory body, such as an "FDA for Preventive Interventions." This body would provide review of evidence-based programs and aid decision-making in funding. As a complement to this body, decision-makers also need guidelines in evidence-based practice in ambiguous circumstances, which characterize much of the reality of public policy. Therefore, this new regulatory body should be accompanied by guidelines for evidence-based practice in intervention and policy. Finally, in order to move forward both of these concepts, a National Academy of Sciences Panel should convene to deliberate how these concepts can be implemented.

The social re-orientation of adolescence: a neuroscience perspective on the process and its relation to psychopathology

Many changes in social behavior take place during adolescence. Sexuality and romantic interests emerge during this time, and adolescents spend more time with peers and less time with parents and family. While such changes in social behavior have been well documented in the literature, relatively few neurophysiological explanations for these behavioral changes have been presented. In this article we selectively review studies documenting (a) the neuronal circuits that are dedicated to the processing of social information; (b) the changes in social behavior that take place during adolescence; (c) developmental alterations in the adolescent brain; and (d) links between the emergence of mood and anxiety disorders in adolescence and changes in brain physiology occurring at that time. The convergence of evidence from this review indicates a relationship between development of brain physiology and developmental changes in social behavior. Specifically, the surge of gonadal steroids at puberty induces changes within the limbic system that alters the emotional attributions applied to social stimuli while the gradual maturation of the prefrontal cortex enables increasingly complex and controlled responses to social information. Observed alterations in adolescent social behavior reflect developmental changes in the brain social information processing network. We further speculate that dysregulation of the social information processing network in this critical period may contribute to the onset of mood and anxiety disorders during adolescence.

Early Intervention Curricula and Subsequent Adolescent Social Development: A Longitudinal Examination

In a previous study of the differential effects of contrasting early intervention programs on later social behavior (Mills, Cole, Jenkins, & Dale, 2002), we found no differences in self-report of juvenile delinquency at age 15 for children enrolled in direct instruction and child-directed models. These results disconfirmed the conclusion of Schweinhart, Weikart, and Larner (1986b) that direct instruction was linked to higher rates of juvenile delinquency and other social differences. Our previous study was limited to self-report of juvenile delinquency, a very coarse measure of social development, in an attempt to replicate the key finding of Schweinhart et al. (1986b). In the present study, we examine additional measures of social development, which might be more sensitive to subtle program differences, including school satisfaction, loneliness, and depression. We administered a battery of social development measures to 174 children at age 15 who had been randomly assigned at preschool age to the two early childhood models. We found no differences on any social outcome for program type. Across a wide range of social behaviors at age 15, there is no evidence that type of early intervention program differentially influences subsequent adolescent social behavior.

A dynamic systems perspective on social cognition, problematic behaviour, and intervention in adolescence

In this article we discussed a dynamic systems view on social behaviour in adolescence. Social behaviour is defined as a self-organizing attractor landscape, based on a network of proximal (i.e., direct) causes. In some cases, social development is disturbed, leading to problematic behaviour in adolescence. The attractor landscape requires change and this change is achieved by therapy and intervention. Therapy and intervention are attempts to control complex, self-organizing systems, i.e., networks of proximal causes. We have noted that successful therapies and interventions do exactly that: change the network of proximal causes, within the rules and confinements of the contexts in which adolescent social behaviour occurs. Understanding the mechanism of such changes requires a different approach to studying and evaluating therapy and intervention, namely a focus on the various dynamics of individual trajectories.

Social and Antisocial Behavior of Children with Learning and Behavioral Disorders: Construct Validity of the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales

Construct validity of the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales, a home version of the School Social Behavior Scales, was examined by investigating its sensitivity to theoretically based group differences. This instrument was designed to provide information regarding parents' (and other home-based raters') perceptions of child and adolescent social behavior in home and community settings. Social behavior of 180 children, ages 6 to 12, was rated by a parent. Sixty of these children had emotional-behavioral disorders, 60 had learning disabilities, and 60 were general education students without any disabilities. Significant differences were found in the ratings of the three groups. Children with emotional-behavioral disorders were rated lowest on social competence and highest on antisocial behavior; general education students were rated highest on social competence and lowest on antisocial behavior; and children with learning disabilities were rated in between these two groups in both areas. The results of this investigation are discussed in terms of future research and clinical applications for social behavior assessment of children and youth.

Parents' Affect, Adolescent Cognitive Representations, and Adolescent Social Development

Prior research regarding the role of parent‐child relationships in children's social development generally has been limited to concurrent or short‐term longitudinal data and has focused primarily on mothers' influence in the early or middle childhood years. Using a multimethod, multiinformant design, the present study extends previous findings by examining whether maternal and paternal affect predicted adolescent social behavior and peer acceptance 2 years later. Both maternal and paternal affect had significant direct and indirect effects (via adolescent cognitive representations of parents) on adolescent negative social behavior as reported by siblings, which in turn predicted decreased peer acceptance as rated by teachers. Findings suggest that both mothers and fathers shape adolescent social development and attest to the importance of exploring multiple pathways that may account for continuity in parent‐child and peer relationships.

Dosage effects of methylphenidate on the social behavior of adolescents diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Dosage effects of methylphenidate on the social behavior of adolescents diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Identifying and Assessing Community-based Social Behavior of Adolescents and Young Adults with EBD

Adolescents and young adults (ages 15 to 25) with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) experience difficulties living in society in large part because of social skill deficits in interacting with peers and adults. Our research first identified and described community-based social behaviors for persons with EBD by following the behavioral analytic model, then used this information to develop measures of these behaviors. Three measures were developed: male and female forms of the Test of Community-based Social Skill Knowledge (TCSK), the Scale of Community-based Social Skill Performance (CBSP), and Behaviors That Are Undesirable for Living and Leisure in Society (BULLIS). In the TCSK, the young person is presented with a number of social interactions between peers or adults and four alternative responses of varying effectiveness to each interaction. The young person then states which alternative is most like what he or she would do if involved in such a situation. The CBSP is a behavior-rating scale completed by a person knowledgeable about the individual's social skill performance in community placements. The BULLIS is a self-report measure of antisocial behaviors that is administered individually. The measures were field-tested, and psychometric analyses were conducted. These results generally were acceptable, demonstrating adequate reliabilities and discriminant power to differentiate between persons with and without EBD.

The Relationship of Socio‐cognitive Oversimplification and the Social Behaviour of Adolescents

When processing information about their world, people systematically reduce objective complexity. This is true not only of cognitive problem‐solving, but also other everyday situations, for example...

Unraveling girls' delinquency: Biological, dispositional, and contextual contributions to adolescent misbehavior.

We examined processes linking biological and behavioral changes in different contexts during adolescence by studying an unselected cohort of New Zealand girls from childhood through adolescence when they entered either mixed-sex or all-girl secondary schools. The impact of menarcheal timing on female delinquency was moderated by the sex composition of schools; early-maturing girls in mixed-sex settings were at greatest risk for delinquency. Individual differences in delinquency were also significantly more stable among girls in mixed-sex schools than among those in all-girl schools. These contextual variations are interpreted in terms of the differential distribution of reinforcements and opportunities for delinquency. The life course is punctuated by numerous biological and social events that require individuals to organize their behavior around newly denned tasks. Puberty is among the most profound of these biosocial transitions. Thus, the onset of menarche in the adolescent girl not only signals her approaching reproductive capacity, but it also elicits new expectations from others, alters her reference group, and reorganizes her body image and sexual identity (Brooks-Gunn & Petersen, 1983; Koff, Rierdan, & Silverstone, 1978). Menarcheal onset is also associated with increases in the prevalence of norm-breaking behaviors and social deviance during the adolescent years (Stattin & Magnusson, 1990). In an effort to contribute to our understanding of the etiology of female delinquency, this article examines the processes linking biological and behavioral changes in different contexts during adolescence. Our work represents an effort to integrate an ecological approach to the study of human development, sociological perspectives on delinquency causation, and recent advances in our understanding of the role of biological maturation in adolescent social behavior. Biosocial models of adolescence highlight the hormonal and social-stimulus effects of pu

A comparison of the verbal social behavior of adolescents with behavioral disorders and regular class peers.

Improved social functioning of adolescents with behavioral disorders (BD) is of critical importance for the successful integration of these students in school, domestic, vocational, and community settings. Three comparisons were addressed in the study; overall verbal responding of BD adolescents was compared to verbal responding of their regular class peers, verbal responding of the same BD adolescents was compared across their self-contained and mainstreamed settings, and responding of the BD adolescents when in mainstreamed settings was compared to responding of regular class peers. Portable microcomputers were used to collect data across 10 categories of verbal responding for 14 BD adolescents and 14 regular class peers. Results supported several general conclusions: (a) Adolescents with behavioral disorders engaged in more negative verbal responding than their regular class peers; (b) BD adolescents exhibited less inappropriate verbal behavior when in the mainstream than when self-contained; and (c) when in the mainstream, the verbal behavior of BD students was similar to that of their regular class peers. Implications of the general and specific differences that emerged from the comparisons were presented and discussed.

When will they ever learn? Young people, health promotion and HIV/AIDS social research

The chronological age biological maturity and personal and social behavior of adolescents and young adults are not directly linked with each others as most social and biomedical researchers would have one believe. Researchers however traditionally portray youths as being inherently deviant irresponsible and prone to take sexual risks. It is true that youth may tend to experiment sexually as they develop. This experimentation should not however be considered as exclusively negative by the research and adult communities. People too often only acknowledge the potential for unprotected sex among adolescents and the subsequent proliferation of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Great pleasure and enjoyment may also be derived from sexual relations and intercourse. If health promoters are to successfully lead youths away from risky to safer sex researchers must ask young people about their sexual health needs and incorporate provisions to meet them in national policies worldwide. Young people must have a role in determining policy and establishing programs which are truly relevant to and reflective of their present-day lifestyles. Just as individuals develop at characteristically different rates different groups of youths have differing behaviors which may or may not predispose them to the risk of HIV infection. Accordingly program planners should not assume an universality among young people. Specifically efforts should be made to learn about and address the sexual health needs of homeless youths young lesbians and young homosexual males. Agencies and organizations should be encouraged to cooperate and coordinate efforts where appropriate.

Peer Influences on Adolescent Drinking

Using a longitudinal sample of Swedish midadolescents, variations from the normal transition into regular drinking habits were proposed to be linked to particular types of peer relationships. The interpersonal ecology for variations from the age-normative patterns was assumed to be the association with younger, older, or full-time working peers. As predicted, analyses for midadolescent males and females (N = 1,012) at age 14 years showed that having younger peers as friends was related to a lower prevalence of and less frequent drunkenness in midadolescence as compared to having only same-age peers as friends. Similar results were evident for association with older or with working peers. The differential impact of peers, which was evident at the age of 14 years, was still significant 17 months later but not at the age of 26 years. Discussion emphasized the need to assess differential influences on timing in the transitions in social behavior in adolescence.

Generalization of an Adolescent's Social Interaction Behavior via Multiple Peers in a Classroom Setting

This study examined the effects of training an adolescent with autism to initiate to nonhandicapped children who were sequentially introduced to training. Using a multiple baseline design across nonhandicapped training peers, the subject's rate of social initiations and percentage of time spent in continuous, spontaneous interactions with both training and nontraining peers were examined. Results indicated that spontaneous initiations to and interactions with nonhandicapped peers increased with the introduction of the second training peer. Results also indicated that across-peer generalization was more evident after training with the third peer and continued even after cessation of the training tactics. The findings contribute to an emerging data base indicating that sequential training across nonhandicapped peers is an effective means of promoting generalization of newly acquired social behavior.

Family paradigm and adolescent social behavior

Adolescents' social behavior and empathy are both related to the family's conception of the social world.

Comparison of Teacher, Peer, and Self-Ratings of Classroom and Social Behavior of Adolescents

The present study assessed the concurrent validity of three methods of measuring classroom and social behavior — teacher ratings, peer roster ratings, and self-ratings — by comparing these measures with observational data. Results indicated that both the peer roster rating and the teacher rating were effective in measuring time-on-task during various classroom activities. Teacher and peer ratings did not correlate well with observed social behavior. Self-ratings correlated only with time-on-task during lectures, but even in this instance the explained variance was minimal. Implications for screening social and behavior problems were discussed.

Youth and pornography in social context.

Data drawn from two studies of adolescents are used to analyze the relationship between indicators of participation in conventional social networks and exposure to sexually explicit media. In both studies, the data indicate that higher degrees of participation in friendship networks, dating patterns, etc., are related to higher levels of exposure to a variety of sexually explicit media. Sexually explicit media are related to sexual behavior, but sexual behavior is also strongly related to participation in adolescent social behavior patterns. Sexually explicit media (pornography) are very often viewed as a powerful behavior-shaping mechanism, but this view is not supported by the data presented in this paper. Rather, pornography is seen as an element in a total picture of media consumption, and like other media it is consumed in proportion to the social position of the consumer. Adolescence is seen as a time of coming to grips with heterosociality and heterosexuality in a world which provides little training for either. Pornography is seen as one of the few media which at least provide an imagery and language for this process of sociosexual development. Levels of exposure to pornography are seen to be low (not exceeding the number of pictures in a year's issue of Playboyor a single deck of sexually explicit playing cards) and unable to increase sexual experimentation, although the reverse may be true.

Social psychology of adolescence.

Reviews the book Social Psychology of Adolescence, by E. DeAlton Partridge (see record 1938-06689-000). Two paramount conceptions run throughout the entire book, determining its general philosophy and conditioning its treatment: first, that the classic analytical method of studying human behavior has been of little value, and that only as one studies the social and relational factors in the total background of the adolescent generation does he arrive at any adequate understanding of the behavior of youth. Secondly, the author conceives the viewpoint of Gestalt psychology to be tremendously significant, especially in its contribution of the concepts: goals, vectors, barriers, configurations, etc. Here is, so far as the present reviewer is aware, the first attempt to present a study of adolescent social behavior in terms of totalities and configurations, and if one misses something of the conventional analysis of adolescent motives and drives, he cannot but be impressed with the soundness of the author's argument and with the vigor and sanity of the treatment. The book is extremely well documented with relevant studies in the field of adolescent behavior, and each of the seventeen chapters concludes with some carefully selected references. The author is throughout judicious in his selection of material and cautious in his interpretations. The book appears to be somewhat less of a teaching book or text-book than it is a survey for the person who is engaged with the administration of activities and programs for young people, or for those who desire an authentic survey of the ever-expanding fields of sociology and psychology as they relate to young people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Language: en