This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to examine the relationship between running away from home between the ages of 12 and 14 and dropping from high school among youth. Propensity score matching was conducted in estimating the effect of running away on high school dropout while controlling for confounding…

Participation in youth programming fosters positive developmental outcomes for youth, yet recruitment and retention are ongoing challenges. Given the imbalance in rates of participation of ethnic minority youth, compared with White youth, it is important to gain a greater understanding of the contextual factors that promote or inhibit…

Sexual minority youth are known to face increased risk of poor school performance; however, little research has focused on the educational experiences of multiethnic sexual minority youth (MSMY) in particular. Using venue-based sampling approaches, this study surveyed 255 MSMY at 15 urban high schools. The majority of participants identified as…

Erikson (1950) contends that the physical changes associated with puberty serve as a catalyst for adolescents to question childhood identifications and to consolidate these with current self-conceptions, personal ideologies, interpersonal values, and future aspirations. Erikson describes the adolescent identity crisis as the developmental period…

Using a sample of 982 late adolescents and tracking them throughout young adulthood, this study investigated whether marital attitudes held during the last year of high school were predictive of union transitions to both cohabitation and marriage during young adulthood. Results using both logistic regression and discrete event history models found…

This mixed-methods longitudinal project investigates the association between student perceptions of their schools and themselves. Findings from the first two waves of data analysis with 894 middle and high school students in a midsized Great Lakes city reveal similarities and differences between the grade levels (7th-10th) and their perceptions of…

Impulsivity holds a central place in the explanations of adolescent delinquency. Recent research suggests that neighborhood characteristics, particularly SES (socioeconomic status), perceived supervision, and collective efficacy, moderate the association between impulsivity and delinquency. However, findings to date have been equivocal, and the…

Despite an overall increase in college attendance, low-income youth and particularly those in the foster care system are less likely to attend college (Wolanin, 2005). Although youth in foster care report high educational aspirations, as little as 4% obtain a 4-year college degree (Nixon & Jones, 2007). The purpose of this study is to explore…

This study of 151 Mexican American adolescents ages 12 to 15 examined the relationship between parenting and adolescents' self-reported level of depressive symptoms and substance use 6 months and 1 year later. Adolescents and their parents were recruited from a large health-maintenance organization and interviewed at three time points. Lower…

Few studies have investigated school-based, positive development for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) youth, despite knowledge of their heightened negative school experiences compared to heterosexual youth (e.g., school victimization). This study examines associations among participation in Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA)--related social…

This research, conducted in the Netherlands, examines whether native adolescents' tolerance of practices by Muslim immigrants (e.g., the founding of Islamic schools) is affected by the type of considerations (e.g., educational freedom vs. integration of Muslims in Dutch society). Using an experimental questionnaire design (N = 970), the findings…

This study examined the trajectories of sexual risk behaviors among adolescents from ages 15 to 23 and factors associated with those trajectories. The sample was 5,419 adolescents from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Using group-based trajectory modeling, five distinctive trajectory groups were identified. The High group had a high…

The article discusses a research instrument developed and utilized by the Pittsburgh Girls Study that asked young girls (ages 7 and 8) and their caretakers to report on the girls' involvement in a variety of problem behaviors. In this article, the authors evaluate whether comprehension, prevalence, and caretaker-child concordance of problem…

We examined correlates and predictive associations of tattoos and body piercings among 1,462 Colorado students in grades 9 to 12. More boys (19%) than girls (17%) reported tattoos, but more girls (42%) than boys (16%) reported piercings (earlobes not included). Older students reported more body modification. Structural equation models showed that…

A randomly selected cross-sectional survey was conducted with 880 youth (16 to 24 years) in Nha Trang City to assess relationships between alcohol consumption and sexual behaviors. A timeline followback method was employed. Chi-square, generalized logit modeling and logistic regression analyses were performed. Of the sample, 78.2% male and 56.1%…