Gender roles as mediators of sex differences in expressions of pathology.

This study tested the extent to which gender role attributes and gender role ideology account for sex differences in internally directed psychological distress and in externally directed deviant behavior in a random sample of 2,013 adolescents. Results indicate that gender roles substantially mediate sex differences in both types of pathology: Masculine instrumental attributes reduce internalized distress, whereas feminine expressive attributes reduce externalized behavior problems. In addition, conventional gender role attitudes were positively related to externalizing problems among male adolescents, but were unrelated to pathology among female adolescents. These associations were largely equivalent across Black and White racial groups and across age groups (13 to 19 years). Two alternative theoretical models linking gender roles and pathology are discussed.

Prediction of preschool sensory and motor performance by 18-month neurologic scores among children born prematurely.

OBJECTIVES: Premature birth places a child at risk for a number of academic and behavioral deficits. The challenge currently facing interventionists is to identify at an early age those preterm children who will develop such deficits. Identified children can then be targeted for intervention to forestall deficits at school age. METHOD: This study examined the use of a neurologic assessment, administered at 18 months of age, to identify children who will have difficulties at preschool age. Premature children identified as neurologically normal or neurologically suspicious at the age of 18 months were tested with the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers. RESULTS: Although there was some variability in performance, as a group the children classified as neurologically suspicious at 18 months continued to fall into a risk category at 4 years of age. CONCLUSION: Because such categorization may predict inadequate performance during the school-age years, monitoring of the child's development is warranted.

Substance use and sexual risk taking among black adolescents and white adolescents.

Analyses of data from a random sample of 1,259 sexually active adolescents revealed that substance use was associated with increased sexual risk taking on 2 occasions of intercourse (1st intercourse ever and 1st intercourse with most recent partner), even after controlling for demographic experiential, and dispositional confounders. Within-persons analyses yielded similar results, indicating that adolescents who used substances, on 1 of the 2 occasions, reported higher levels of risk taking on the occasion when substances were used than on the no-substance use occasion. However, substance use was both more common and more strongly linked to risk taking among White than Black adolescents, suggesting that White adolescents are a greater risk of negative consequences related to substance use proximal to intercourse.

Gender roles as mediators of sex differences in adolescent alcohol use and abuse.

This study tested the hypothesis that internalized gender-role personality attributes and gender-role ideology mediate sex differences in alcohol use and drinking problems in a random sample of 1,077 adolescents aged 13 to 19. Results indicated that gender roles substantially, although not completely, mediated the effects of sex on drinking patterns. The relationships between gender roles and alcohol use were largely consistent with the hypothesis that individuals with conventional gender identities conform more closely to cultural norms that condone drinking among males but not among females. However, effects of the gender-linked attributes of expressivity, emotional control, and instrumentality on drinking also may be interpreted within a framework that views them as functional coping styles. Finally, differences between Black and White teens in the relationships between alcohol use and the masculine attributes of instrumentality and emotional control suggest possible race differences in the functional value of these attributes.

Predictors of successful completion of a halfway-house program for chemically-dependent women.

Female substance abusers' attributions about the stability and globality of positive and negative life events were used as predictors of successful completion of a halfway-house treatment program. Instead of the typical beneficial effects associated with a self-serving attributional style, subjects who attributed their own recent negative life events to global (wide influence on life) and stable (always present) causes were more likely to successfully complete the treatment program. Subjects who perceived the cause of their first substance abuse (whether alcohol or another drug of abuse) as global and likely to affect substance abuse in the future also were more successful in completing the program. Not surprisingly, subjects who indicated that the cause of their quitting substance abuse was likely to lead them to stay off their drug of abuse in the future were more successful in completing the program. Finally, the amount and helpfulness of social support provided by a subject's AA sponsor were both significantly correlated with program completion. These results are interpreted as consistent with the program's Alcoholics Anonymous philosophical orientation.