Social and behavioral factors associated with high-risk sexual behavior among adolescents.

Relationships among risky sexual behaviors, other problem behaviors, and the family and peer context were examined for two samples of adolescents. Many adolescents reported behaviors (e.g., promiscuity or nonuse of condoms) which risked HIV or other sexually transmitted disease infection. Such risky behaviors were significantly intercorrelated. Consistent condom use was rare among those whose behavior otherwise entailed the greatest risk of infection. In both samples, an index of high-risk sexual behavior was significantly related to antisocial behavior, cigarette smoking, and illicit drug or alcohol use. Social context variables, including family structure, parenting practices, and friends' engagement in problem behaviors, were associated with high-risk sexual behavior. Finally, for sexually active adolescents, problem behaviors and social context variables were predictive of nonuse of condoms. Results were consistent across the two studies and regression weights held up well under cross-validation.

The specificity of childhood problem behavior for adolescent and young adult maladjustment.

A longitudinal sample of 1130 low peer choice grade school children were followed through record sources into young adulthood. Specific childhood problem behavior clusters were examined in relationship to delinquency, adult criminality, and mental health treatment contact. Childhood aggression, in the context of peer rejection, was related significantly to delinquency for males, an antisocial diagnosis for both sexes, and differentiated subjects in the judicial system from those in the mental health system. A childhood "neurological" scale differentiated subjects with a schizophrenic spectrum diagnosis from other subjects with mental health treatment.

Self-esteem, ethnic identity, and behavioral adjustment among Anglo and Chicano adolescents in West Texas.

This study provides a comparison of similarities and differences with respect to ethnic identity between Anglo and Chicano adolescents from Texas. A path analysis model was used to test a theoretical assumption concerning proposed antecedents and consequences of self-esteem. Research instruments included the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, the Semantic Differential (scales for Myself and My Ethnic Group) and the McGuire White Measure of Social Status. Results were consistent with the interpretation that there is a relationship between being Chicano and having lower self-esteem, lower behavioral adjustment, and higher ethnic esteem. The prediction that ethnic esteem would mediate between ethnic group and self-esteem was upheld. Variables such as ethnic group membership per se and sex appear as or more important to the prediction of behavioral level. Clinical implications include recognizing that Chicanos low in self-esteem or behavioral adjustment should not automatically be considered unusual. The problems faced by this group are considered as having something in common with other groups of people who have more problems, lesser status, fewer resources, and fewer sources of available help.

Childhood aggression and social adjustment as antecedents of delinquency.

A sample of 2,453 grade school children were followed into young adulthood through record sources. Teacher interviews provided information about low-peer-status children that was assessed in relation to subsequent delinquency for both sexes and young adult criminality for males. A multivariate design evaluated the joint effects of social class, a measure of family disturbance, and childhood problem behavior factors as antecedents of delinquency. Childhood aggression emerged as the most prominent antecedent factor for males but not for females. Social class and family disturbance were associated with aggression but did not have significant direct effects on delinquency. Aggression was related to severity of delinquency. Dispositional status, reflecting severity, was the best indicator of which delinquent males would have adult criminal records. A causal model is presented.

Multidimensional assessment of psychological problems in children with cancer.

The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) was administered to 88 children 3 to 16 years of age who had cancer. A variety of dimensions of psychological adjustment of these children, who were compared with a sample of nonsick children, was assessed. The PIC indicated that children with cancer exhibited cognitive development-related problems and internalized forms of psychopathology more often than their age- and sex-matched cohorts. In the cancer sample, no differences in problems as a function of diagnoses were observed when controlling for age of the child. No differences related to length of time since diagnosis were observed when controlling for age of the child. About 26% of the children with cancer exhibited PIC profiles indicating problems of such magnitude that professional intervention would be appropriate.

A data-based analysis of the psychometric performance of the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC): an alternative to the Achenbach review.

This paper, in response to Achenbach's review of the Personality Inventory for Children manual and actuarial interpretive guide recently published in the Journal of Personality Assessment, summarizes some of the empirical data that support the validity and potential application of the PIC profile scales. In contrast to Achenbach's subjective critique of selective inventory items, review of scales and scale items provides evidence of their temporal stability, and their ability to classify criterion groups and to predict external correlates obtained independently from parents, teachers, and clinicians. It was also noted that Achenbach's concern over potential distortion of PIC descriptions because they are obtained from informants must be tempered by evidence of scale validity obtained despite the possible presence of such distortion, as well as by direct evidence that suggests the independence of scale elevation and informant psychopathology.

Enhancement of maturity of moral judgment by parent education.

Relationships between maturity of moral judgment of parents, role-taking opportunities in the home, roletaking ability in children and maturity of children's moral judgment were studied. A parent intervention program designed to increase role-taking opportunities in the home thought to lead to an increase in the maturity of moral judgment of children was utilized. Suggestive evidence for the claim that it is possible to accelerate rates of moral maturity of children through intervening indirectly to train their parents was found. Significant relationships were also found between maturity of moral judgment in children and role-taking AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR role-taking in the home. Maturity of moral judgment of parents was not found to be significantly related to maturity of moral judgment of their children.