Examines the age-at-marriage/marital instability relationship in a national sample (N=1,715). Results suggested that the relationship could be largely explained by inadequate role performance, though the specific inadequacies in performance differed somewhat for the early and later marrieds. (NRB)

Tested causal models predicting unmarried adolescent pregnancy using data from 2,158 young adults. Among the males, having a girlfriend become pregnant is associated with school difficulties, low parental socioeconomic status, and high popularity. Among females, pregnancy risk is related to race, low socioeconomic status, father absence, number of…

Explored phenomenological meanings of retirement for women and factors associated with adjustment among employed and retired women. No differences were found in levels of morale, adjustment, or self-esteem. Correlations of background, status, and attitudinal variables with measures of morale, adjustment, and self-esteem indicated that the factors…

Presents data on adoption and characteristics of women who adopt based on a national sample of 8,611 women in 1976. Results showed over half the women who were married, over age 30, had never borne a child, and were sterile for noncontraceptive reasons had adopted. (JAC)

Examines the relationship of two types of common behavioral problems of adolescence, substance involvement (SI) and Conduct Disorder Behavior (CDB), to traumatic injury related health problems (TRHP) during adolescence and young adulthood. Analyses suggest that early SI places females at risk for TRHP, while CDB is more related to TRHP for males.…

Used data from the 1993 National Black Politics Study to examine the way gender worked in explaining African American attitudes toward gay men. Results indicated that African American females expressed more positive attitudes toward homosexual men than did African American males, and of the variables examined (including age, church attendance,…

Evaluates whether anxiety, event valence and demographic variables influence relationship between helplessness and depression. Results showed: adolescents with anxiety and depression from lower socioeconomic backgrounds made less helpless attributions for negative events; and African-American adolescents showed less helpless attributions for…

Explores the relationship between alcohol consumption and contraceptive methods used by 364 heterosexually active undergraduate students at a large public university. Twenty-six percent of the respondents reported drinking alcohol before their last sexual encounter. Found that men who combined alcohol and sex were less likely to report that their…

Investigates effects of drug-use initiation and conduct disorder (CD) among 1031 adolescents who participated in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcomes Studies for Adolescents (DATOS-A). The mean age of first drug use was 12.7, 57% met DSM-III-R criteria for CD, and earlier initiators were more likely to have CD. (Contains 27 references and 4 tables.)…

Finds that, in an interactional context involving bargaining, power accounted for over three times the amount of variance in threat use than did gender, and was the best predictor of the use of powerful language in this context. (SR)

Using national survey data on child abuse reporting, the impact of selected case and personal characteristics was examined. Previous abuse, severity, and recantation were powerful predictors of abuse-relevant judgments and reporting intentions. Child age, perpetrator intent, and socioeconomic status also were influences. (BRM)

Examines relationships between general and sex-specific alcohol expectancies and drinking before offending with child sex offenders. Results show that sex-specific expectancies were the best predictor of the proportion of times the offenders reported drinking before offending. Highlights the importance of assessing expectancies related to…

Examines the extent to which assertiveness and related social skills, personal competence, and refusal efficacy predict alcohol involvement in adolescents. Males were at higher risk for poor refusal skills and reported higher alcohol involvement. Youth characterized by poor social skill development reported lower refusal efficacy, lower grades,…

Although previous research has suggested cortisol-emotion relationships, little is known regarding the effect of anxiety type on cortisol levels or relationships between anxiety and longitudinal cortisol change in adolescents. The authors examine the differential relationship of cortisol levels with generalized and social anxiety and relationships…