Using group-based trajectory modeling, this study examined 5156 adolescents from the child sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to identify developmental trajectories of obesity from ages 6-18 and evaluate associations of such trajectories with risk behaviors and psychosocial health in adolescence. Four distinctive obesity…

Research has shown a positive relationship between substance use and delinquent-type behaviours among adolescents. The aim of this study is to explore the temporal relationships between these outcomes through secondary data analysis of a longitudinal study of high-school students' risk behaviours. Two regression models were compared and gender,…

The present study examines growth curve trajectories of cigarette and alcohol use from 13 to 19 years, and investigates how family relations (i.e., decision-making opportunities, negative family interactions, and positive identification with parents) relate to contemporaneous and predictive alcohol and cigarette use during adolescence. Data came…

Objective: To examine whether students' school engagement, relationships with teachers, educational aspirations and involvement in fights at school are associated with various measures of subsequent substance use. Methods: Data were drawn from the Belfast Youth Development Study (n = 2968). Multivariate logistic models examined associations…

The goal of the present study was to investigate meanings of sexual intercourse in adolescence, and the relationships between meanings, gender, age, and sexual behaviors. Subjects were 201 Italian adolescents (107 boys and 94 girls), aged 14-19 (M=17.44, SD=1.65). Participants completed a battery of questionnaires on meanings of sex, sexual…

This investigation describes what smoking means to adolescents, and attempts to better understand it as a rite of passage. Applying a social ontology to an often-individualized issue, interviews were conducted with 20 adolescent smokers between the ages of 13 and 19. Results show that adolescents possess detailed information about the risks of…

The aim of the present study was to make a 16-year follow-up of children of psychosocial risk mothers as concerns emotional/behavioural problems, self-esteem, life events, and academic grades. Forty-three teenagers (index group) and 61 reference teenagers were personally interviewed and asked to answer the Youth Self-report (YSR), the Self-image…

Concern has been mounting about the increasing numbers of adolescents who (ab)use drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence according to gender and ethnicity of drinking, smoking and drug-use in a representative sample of 15 and 16 year olds. The sample consisted of 6020 15- and 16-year-old pupils from 41…