Citizenship attitudes and allegiances in diverse youth.

This study examined the relationships among three sets of variables in a sample of 299 diverse high school youth: (a) demographic variables such as ethnicity and immigrant status, (b) attitudes toward citizenship responsibilities, and (c) allegiances to three socializing institutions--family, school, and community. A measure of citizenship attitudes was found to identify two distinct constructs--Polity-Oriented and Civic-Oriented attitudes toward citizenship responsibilities, relating to the polity or nation-state, and to serving the community. European Americans were consistently lower on Polity-Oriented attitudes than Hispanic teens, and lower on family allegiance than other non-European American groups. Hispanic youth reported significantly lower community involvement than other non-European American groups as well as European American youth. Whereas the only significant correlation between allegiance and citizenship attitudes was between family allegiance and Polity-Oriented attitudes, there were multiple moderating effects of immigrant status and ethnicity. Results are discussed in terms of ethnicity and allegiances as contexts of socialization for the development of attitudes toward citizenship responsibilities.

Affluent adolescents, depression, and drug use: the role of adults in their lives.

The present study examined the association between adult supports to whom affluent youth turn when personally troubled or upset and their self-reported depression and drug use. The sample consisted of 374 affluent seventh graders. Perceived parental closeness played a mediating role in reducing depressive symptomology and drug use. Contrary to hypothesized predictions, other adult supports showed neither mediating nor moderating effect on adjustment. The data show that the presence of other adult supports in the context of low parental closeness actually exacerbates, not moderates, maladjustment. Since this finding is contradictory to the support literature with various populations, which shows the importance of social supports for psychological well-being, the particularity of this population and their potential challenges are highlighted.