Maternal Communication About Sexual Content and Ease of Access to Contraceptives.

Previous literature has emphasized the role of mothers in sexual health communication with their adolescents. However, the extant literature lacks exploration of the importance of parental communication in association to specific risk-reduction behaviors, such as access to contraceptives. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to explore the roles of parental attachment, the mother-daughter relationship, and communication about sexual content during adolescence in relation to women's recalled access to contraceptives during their teen years. Cisgender female participants aged between 18 and 35 (N = 582) were retrospectively assessed on maternal and paternal attachment, the mother-daughter relationship, mother-daughter communication about sexual content, and their own access to contraceptives during their teen years. After controlling for socioeconomic status, participant race, and history of pregnancy, only maternal communication about sexual content significantly related to access to contraceptives and ease of access to contraceptives. These results demonstrated that specific communication about sexual content was associated with greater access and ease of access to contraceptives, whereas more general relationship factors and communication did not.

Preserving Abstinence and Preventing Rape: How Sex Education Textbooks Contribute to Rape Culture.

Recent academic and popular conversations regarding #MeToo, sexual violence and harassment, and rape culture have begun to focus on K-12 educational spaces in the U.S., but they rarely examine how educational curricula actually foster or combat these dynamics. In this article, we present a qualitative content analysis of health education textbooks, which explores the following question: What implicit and explicit messages do youth receive about sexual violence, and specifically, sexual violence prevention in health education textbooks? As we explored this question, we analyzed the roles that sex education curricula may play in shaping (e.g., contributing to, intervening upon) rape culture. We found the following messages across textbooks: abstinence is the only way to preserve one's safety; lack of abstinence increases risks, including the risk of being raped; and girls/women must assume personal responsibility and enact strategies that preserve one's abstinence and prevent them from being raped. This article concludes by teasing out how curricula can shape interactions, relationships, and culture, and by offering recommendations for improving sex education curricula.

A Meta-Analysis Linking Parent-to-Child Aggression and Dating Abuse During Adolescence and Young Adulthood.

Relationship continuity and social learning theories provide support for parent-to-child aggression as one potential explanatory factor for dating abuse (DA); however, empirical results are mixed across studies as to the strength of this association. This meta-analysis sought to estimate the overall size of this effect among adolescent and young adult samples and investigate potential moderating factors including sample and measurement variables. Records were identified using a computerized search of databases with several keywords. Peer-reviewed journal articles and dissertations were included if they measured both parent-to-child aggression and DA perpetration and/or victimization among adolescents (aged 12-18) or young adults (aged 18-29). Sixty-six records met inclusion criteria, yielding 370 unique effect sizes for the relation between parent-to-child aggression and DA across 94 unique samples. As hypothesized, there was a small-to-medium effect size between parent-to-child aggression and subsequent DA during both adolescence and young adulthood. The strength of these findings was consistent across DA outcome (perpetration and victimization) and both physical and psychological forms, youth and parent gender, and youth age. Stronger associations were found when the gender of the parental aggressor was undefined compared to either a defined paternal or maternal aggressor. Records using the Conflict Tactics Scale to measure both parent-to-child aggression and DA yielded stronger associations compared to sources that used different measures, but single informant versus multiple informants did not yield any differences.

Assessment of In-Person and Cyber Aggression and Victimization, Substance Use, and Delinquent Behavior During Early Adolescence.

This study evaluated the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Adolescent Report (PBFS-AR), a measure designed to assess adolescents' frequency of victimization, aggression, substance use, and delinquent behavior. Participants were 1,263 students (50% female; 78% African American, 18% Latino) from three urban middle schools in the United States. Confirmatory factor analyses of competing models of the structure of the PBFS-AR supported a model that differentiated among three forms of aggression (in-person physical, in-person relational, and cyber), two forms of victimization (in-person and cyber), substance use, and delinquent behavior. This seven-factor model fit the data well and demonstrated strong measurement invariance across groups that differed on sex and grade. Support was found for concurrent validity of the PBFS-AR based on its pattern of relations with school office discipline referrals.

Anxiety buffer disruption: Worldview threat, death thought accessibility, and worldview defense among low and high posttraumatic stress symptom samples.

OBJECTIVE: Decades of research suggest that people are able to function effectively in the world and maintain mental health and well-being, at least in part, by relying on effective sociocultural anxiety buffer systems to shield against the awareness of death. However, according to anxiety buffer disruption theory, posttraumatic stress reflects anxiety buffer disruption, signaling that sociocultural belief systems have been rendered unable to buffer the individual against death awareness. As such, we would not expect to see the normal responses to death awareness meant to bolster and defend those belief systems in participants with posttraumatic stress. METHOD: To test these hypotheses, we screened for posttraumatic stress in U.S. participants (n = 4,150) and recruited individuals with low (n = 193) and high (n = 205) posttraumatic stress symptoms. Each group was randomly assigned to a worldview-threat or -support condition, followed by a standardized measure of death-thought accessibility (DTA) and worldview defense. RESULTS: In the nonthreat (worldview-support) condition, individuals with high (vs. low) posttraumatic stress had elevated DTA. Further, among individuals with low posttraumatic stress, worldview threat (vs. -support) increased DTA, which in turn mediated an increase in worldview defense; however, among those with high posttraumatic stress, worldview threat did not increase DTA and its effect on worldview defense was substantially reduced. CONCLUSION: These findings supported the present hypotheses derived from anxiety buffer disruption theory, are important for understanding the existential dimension of posttraumatic stress, and may have implications for mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Reliability and Validity of the Dating Abuse Perpetration Acts Scale in an Urban, Emergency Department-Based Sample of Male and Female Youth.

Adolescent dating abuse (ADA) is an important public health problem, but existing measurement instruments have limitations. This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Dating Abuse Perpetration Acts Scale (DAPAS), a medium-length instrument (24 items) designed for use with adolescents aged 16 to 21 years. In Phase 1, 466 adolescent pediatric emergency department patients who reported perpetrating at least one act of physical ADA in the last year completed the DAPAS. In the second phase, 33 patients completed the DAPAS; two previously established dating violence measures, the Safe Dates Perpetration Act Scale and the revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2); and a measure of violence, the Self-Report of Offending (SRO). Categorical confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a one-factor model of ADA perpetration best fit the data. Validity analyses showed moderate to high correlations between the DAPAS and both the Safe Dates measure and the CTS2 ( r = .70 and .59) scores, and a small to moderate correlation between the DAPAS and SRO ( r = .43). Sensitivity and specificity analysis of the DAPAS using 10 cut-points revealed an optimal cut-point, which correctly classified 85% of the respondents. The DAPAS showed concurrent validity with the Safe Dates measure and CTS2, as well as discriminant validity in its ability to differentiate perpetrators of violence in general from perpetrators of ADA. The DAPAS scale is a good alternative to the Safe Dates measure and should be considered for use in research studies of ADA.

Evaluation of the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Teacher Report Form for assessing behavior in a sample of urban adolescents.

This study evaluated the structure and validity of the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Teacher Report Form (PBFS-TR) for assessing students' frequency of specific forms of aggression and victimization, and positive behavior. Analyses were conducted on two waves of data from 727 students from two urban middle schools (Sample 1) who were rated by their teachers on the PBFS-TR and the Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS), and on data collected from 1,740 students from three urban middle schools (Sample 2) for whom data on both the teacher and student report version of the PBFS were obtained. Confirmatory factor analyses supported first-order factors representing 3 forms of aggression (physical, verbal, and relational), 3 forms of victimization (physical, verbal and relational), and 2 forms of positive behavior (prosocial behavior and effective nonviolent behavior), and higher-order factors representing aggression, victimization, and positive behavior. Strong measurement invariance was established over gender, grade, intervention condition, and time. Support for convergent validity was found based on correlations between corresponding scales on the PBFS-TR and teacher ratings on the SSIS in Sample 1. Significant correlations were also found between teacher ratings on the PBFS-TR and student ratings of their behavior on the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale-Adolescent Report (PBFS-AR) and a measure of nonviolent behavioral intentions in Sample 2. Overall the findings provided support for the PBFS-TR and suggested that teachers can provide useful data on students' aggressive and prosocial behavior and victimization experiences within the school setting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Negative Interpersonal Interactions and Dating Abuse Perpetration: The Mediating Role of Dispositional Forgivingness.

Theory and research suggest that an individual's negative interactions with his or her parents or romantic partner are associated with the perpetration of dating abuse. Research is beginning to explore the role of forgivingness within abusive romantic relationships, and these preliminary findings suggest that dispositional forgivingness might mediate the relations between negative interpersonal interactions and dating abuse. The current study assessed negative interactions with one's parents and one's romantic partner, the frequency of dating abuse perpetration, and dispositional forgivingness of others and oneself among a sample of emerging adults in college ( n = 421). Dispositional forgivingness of others was negatively associated with the perpetration of emotional/verbal dating abuse and threatening behaviors, and it mediated relations between negative interpersonal interactions and dating abuse perpetration. Our findings suggest that the tendency to forgive others may explain why some individuals who experience negative interpersonal interactions with parents or romantic partners do not escalate to perpetration of abuse within their romantic relationships. Implications for future research and application are discussed.

Victimization, Aggression, and Other Problem Behaviors: Trajectories of Change Within and Across Middle School Grades.

This study examined trajectories of victimization and problem behaviors within and across three grades of middle school. Participants were 2,166 adolescents from three urban middle schools in the United States who completed measures of victimization, physical and relational aggression, substance use, and delinquent behavior. Latent curve analyses modeled changes in each construct across 12 waves collected every 3 months. In each case, the best-fitting model required separate linear slopes to represent changes within each grade and a factor representing decreases in the summers. Positive cross-construct correlations were found for intercepts, linear slopes, and measures within waves. The findings suggest strong associations among victimization and problem behaviors, and individual differences in their patterns of change both within and across grades.

Patterns of Change in Adolescent Dating Victimization and Aggression During Middle School.

Although mounting evidence suggests dating victimization and aggression begin in early adolescence, little work has examined the pattern of these behaviors across this age. This longitudinal study examined trajectories of dating victimization and aggression across middle school using 12 waves of data. A sample of early adolescents (N = 1369, 52.3% girls; 83% African American; 15% Hispanic or Latino) residing in an urban, economically disadvantaged area participated in this study. Youth completed measures of dating victimization and aggression quarterly across the 3 years of middle school. Although results indicated a general trend of increasing dating victimization and aggression across middle school, variation existed for boys and girls. Specifically, girls showed increasing patterns of both, whereas boys remained relatively stable across time. Dating victimization and aggression were also highly correlated across time. These findings support the implementation and refinement of prevention programming aimed at preventing and reducing dating aggression and victimization in middle school.

Longitudinal Relations between Beliefs Supporting Aggression,Anger Regulation, and Dating Aggression among Early Adolescents.

Dating aggression occurs frequently in early to mid-adolescence and has negative repercussions for psychosocial adjustment and physical health. The patterns of behavior learned during this developmental timeframe may persist in future dating relationships, underscoring the need to identify risk factors for this outcome. The current study examined longitudinal relations between beliefs supporting aggression, anger regulation, and dating aggression. Participants were 176 middle school students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade (50 % female; 82 % African American). No direct effects were found between beliefs supporting reactive or proactive aggression and dating aggression. Beliefs supporting reactive aggression predicted increased rates of anger dysregulation, and beliefs supporting proactive aggression led to subsequent increases in anger inhibition. Anger dysregulation and inhibition were associated with higher frequencies of dating aggression. An indirect effect was found for the relation between beliefs supporting reactive aggression and dating aggression via anger dysregulation. Another indirect effect emerged for the relation between beliefs supporting proactive aggression and dating aggression through anger inhibition. The study's findings suggested that beliefs supporting proactive and reactive aggression were differentially related to emotion regulation processes, and identified anger dysregulation and inhibition as risk factors for dating aggression among adolescents.

The Association of Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance With Emotional Dating Abuse Perpetration Using Multimethod, Dyadic Data.

This study examined the relationship between emotional dating abuse perpetration and attachment anxiety and avoidance using multimethod, multi-informant dyadic data. Data were derived from a sample of young adult heterosexual dating couples (N = 113 couples). We measured attachment through self-report survey data and emotional dating abuse through self-report surveys, partner-report surveys, and ratings by independent observers of a videotaped couple interaction. Both female and male anxiety were related to female emotional abuse across each method. Male anxiety was related to male emotional abuse in survey data, but female anxiety was related to male emotional abuse in observed data. Neither male nor female avoidance was related to emotional abuse. Dating abuse prevention should focus on attachment anxiety factors (e.g., jealousy, anger) to reduce emotional abuse in young adult romantic relationships.

Assessment of adolescents' victimization, aggression, and problem behaviors: Evaluation of the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale.

This study evaluated the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale (PBFS), a self-report measure designed to assess adolescents' frequency of victimization, aggression, and other problem behaviors. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 5,532 adolescents from 37 schools at 4 sites. About half (49%) of participants were male; 48% self-identified as Black non-Hispanic; 21% as Hispanic, 18% as White non-Hispanic. Adolescents completed the PBFS and measures of beliefs and values related to aggression, and delinquent peer associations at the start of the 6th grade and over 2 years later. Ratings of participants' behavior were also obtained from teachers on the Behavioral Assessment System for Children. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a 7-factor model that differentiated among 3 forms of aggression (physical, verbal, and relational), 2 forms of victimization (overt and relational), drug use, and other delinquent behavior. Support was found for strong measurement invariance across gender, sites, and time. The PBFS factors generally showed the expected pattern of correlations with teacher ratings of adolescents' behavior and self-report measures of relevant constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record

Measurement of Dating Aggression During Middle School: Structure, Measurement Invariance, and Distinction From General Aggression.

Two studies examined the factor structure of a modified version of the Safe Dates dating aggression scale and evaluated whether dating aggression is distinct from general aggression during early adolescence. Analyses were conducted on a derivation sample of 3,894 adolescents from 37 schools (Study 1) and an independent cross-validation sample of 938 middle school youth (Study 2). Categorical confirmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor model (perpetration and victimization) over models differentiating psychological and physical forms of aggression. The model was invariant across time, sex, grade, and season. Study 2 also supported dating aggression as distinct from general aggression. Results supported measuring dating aggression perpetration and victimization as latent constructs represented by ordered categorical indicators that capture item severity and frequency.

Measuring teacher implementation in delivery of a bullying prevention program: the impact of instructional and procedural adherence and competence on student responsiveness.

Although there is evidence that school-based prevention programs can produce positive effects on students' academic and behavioral functioning, the ability of teachers to sustain high-quality implementation remains an open and vexing question. Because teachers are often the intervention agents in school-based prevention programs, assessing both their adherence to program procedures and their competence in program delivery is critical for ensuring student responsiveness to prevention programs, which in turn may impact their efficacy. The current study assessed treatment fidelity of implementation of the Olweus' Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) in two urban middle schools. Trained observers completed 280 observations of teachers' delivery of the class meeting component of the OBPP and rated teachers' instructional and procedural adherence and competence of delivery and students' responsiveness. Analyses using multilevel modeling indicated that competence of delivery was significantly related to student responsiveness above and beyond teacher instructional behavior adherence, such that class meetings conducted with higher instructional adherence and procedural competence resulted in higher student responsiveness to the program after controlling for the clustered nature of teachers, and several observation-level and teacher-level covariates. This study highlights the need for strategies to increase teacher use of effective instructional practices and competence with program procedures to enhance the efficacy of prevention programming in schools.

The impact of victimization and witnessing violence on physical aggression among high-risk adolescents.

Relations among witnessing violence, victimization, and physical aggression were investigated within a high-risk sample of 1,156 sixth graders. Longitudinal, multilevel analyses were conducted on two waves of data from two cohorts of students in 37 schools from four communities. The sample was 65% male and 67% African American. Neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, witnessing violence, victimization, and physical aggression were strongly and positively correlated at the school level. Contrary to hypothesis, exposure to violence did not mediate the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage on changes in physical aggression. As expected, witnessing violence and physical aggression had bidirectional longitudinal effects on each other at the student level. In contrast, there were no cross-variable relations between changes in violent victimization and aggression over time.

Where and when adolescents use tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana: comparisons by age, gender, and race.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the location and time of adolescent use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Age, gender, and racial differences in location and time of use were studied for each substance. METHOD: Using cross-sectional data collected through the schoolwide Pride Survey, 20,055 students between the ages of 10 and 19 years (53.6% female, 55.1% Black, 44.9% White) in one metropolitan area reported on their frequency of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use, as well as the location and time of use of each substance. Chi-square tests compared the rates, locations, and times for each substance across boys and girls; Black and White students; and early, middle, and late adolescents. RESULTS: Older adolescents reported higher rates of substance use at friends' homes, at school, and in cars and lower rates of alcohol use at home compared with younger youth. Males were more likely to report alcohol and marijuana use at school and on weeknights and alcohol use in cars, whereas females were more likely to report alcohol and marijuana use on the weekends. No gender differences emerged for times and locations of cigarette use. Compared with Black youth, White adolescents were more likely to use all substances at friends' homes and on weekends; to smoke cigarettes at school, in the car, and on weeknights; and to use alcohol at home. Black adolescents were more likely to report using alcohol at home, at school, in cars, during and after school, and on weeknights and were more likely to report using marijuana at school. CONCLUSIONS: The location and time of adolescent substance use vary substantially by age, gender, and race. These differences may help tailor substance use prevention and intervention programs to specific subgroups of youth to improve program effectiveness.

Extending the actor-partner interdependence model to include cross-informant data.

This paper illustrates an extension of the APIM technique within a path analysis framework by using cross-informant data on the outcome variable. Data for the current study were derived from a sample of young adult heterosexual couples who had been in a romantic relationship for at least four months (N = 115 couples). The findings from the current study indicate that romantic relationship satisfaction is associated with externalizing behavior problems among both females and males, but that both dyadic data and cross-informant reports are needed to understand this association. Not considering dyadic or cross-informant data may lead to different, and potentially misleading, claims. The findings from the current study provide clear evidence that incorporating cross-informant data in dyadic data analyses provides important new insights into understanding the association between romantic relationship functioning and individual outcomes.