Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: We examined the pathways to smoking cessation between late adolescence and young adulthood. METHODS: We obtained data from a sample of urban African American and Puerto Rican young adults (N=242), mean age 19 years, who reported tobacco use and determined cessation rates between late adolescence and young adulthood. We used structural equation modeling to examine the pathways of positive family relations, family smoking, maladaptive personality attributes, and substance use to smoking cessation. RESULTS: A mediational pathway linked the absence of positive family relations with maladaptive personality attributes, both of which were related to substance use and ultimately smoking cessation. Substance use mediated the path between family smoking and smoking cessation. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a positive relationship with one's parents, less smoking in the family, conventional personality attributes, and little or no other substance use facilitate smoking cessation among young adults

The purpose of this study was to identify distinct trajectories of smoking behavior during a period extending from adolescence (mean age = 14 years) to young adulthood (mean age = 26 years) among African American and Puerto Rican adolescents/young adults, to examine ethnic and gender differences in group membership, and to assess the ability of peer and parental smoking to distinguish among trajectory groups. A community-based sample of 451 African American and Puerto Rican adolescents was interviewed four times during adolescence and in early adulthood, covering a span of 12 years. For both ethnic/racial groups, four distinct trajectories were identified: Nonsmokers, maturing-out smokers, late-starting smokers, and early-starting continuous smokers. Compared with Puerto Ricans, African Americans were over-represented in the nonsmoking group, whereas Puerto Ricans were over-represented in the early-starting continuous group. Females were more likely than males to be early-starting continuous smokers than late starters. Adolescents who were exposed to peer and parental smoking in early adolescence were more likely to belong to trajectory groups characterized by higher levels of smoking. These findings show that exposure to peer and parental smoking in early adolescence constitutes a risk factor for engaging in elevated levels of smoking behavior at an early age and for continued smoking into adulthood for urban African Americans and Puerto Ricans. To be most effective, smoking prevention programs should address peer group and family influences on adolescent smoking

The current study modeled developmental trajectories of ethnic identity exploration and affirmation and belonging from middle to late adolescence (ages 15-18) and examined how these trajectories varied according to ethnicity, gender, immigrant status, and perceived level of discrimination. The sample consisted of 135 urban low-income Black and Latino adolescents (42% male, 34% Black, 66% Latino). Consistent with developmental theory, individual growth modeling identified an average quadratic trajectory of ethnic identity exploration characterized by decelerating levels of exploration after 10th grade. However, ethnicity and perceived discrimination by peers moderated this pattern. No uniform growth pattern in affirmation was found and Black and Latino adolescents displayed equally high levels of affirmation over time

This article presents results from a 3-year longitudinal study of the growth patterns and correlates of perceived discrimination by adults and by peers among Black, Latino, and Asian American high school students. Results revealed a linear increase over time in levels of perceived discrimination by adults, whereas perceptions of discrimination by peers remained stable over time. Asian American and non-Puerto Rican Latino adolescents (primarily Dominican) reported higher levels of peer and/or adult discrimination than did Puerto Rican youth, whereas Black adolescents reported a steeper increase over time in levels of perceived discrimination by peers and by adults than did Puerto Rican adolescents. Peer and adult discrimination was significantly associated with decreased self-esteem and increased depressive symptoms over time. Ethnic identity and ethnicity were found to moderate the relationships between perceived discrimination and changes in psychological well-being over time. Results underscore the need to include perceptions of discrimination when studying the development and well-being of ethnic minority adolescents

PURPOSE: To determine the association of frequency of illegal drug use with five groups of factors: environmental stressors, parental drug use, parental child rearing, peer drug use, and adolescent personal attributes. METHODS: 1468 male (45%) and female (55%) adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years (mean 14.76, SD 1.51), were interviewed at home in Durban and Capetown, South Africa. Independent measures assessed environmental stressors, parental child rearing, parental drug use, peer drug use, and adolescent personal attributes. The dependent variable was the adolescents' frequency of illegal drug use. RESULTS: Regression analyses showed that personal attributes and peer substance use explained the largest percentage of the variance in the adolescents' frequency of illegal drug use. In addition, both of the parental factors and the environmental stressors contributed to the explained variance in adolescent drug use above and beyond the two more proximal domains at a statistically significant level. CONCLUSIONS: Knowing the contribution of more proximal vs. more distal risk factors for illegal drug use is useful for prioritizing targets for interventions. Targeting changes in the more proximal predictors (e.g., adolescent personal attributes) may be more effective as well as more feasible than trying to produce changes in the more distal factors, such as environmental stressors

In this study, the authors examined (a) the protective potential of multiple components of ethnic and racial identity and (b) the aspects of an Africentric orientation for moderating psychobehavioral risk and protective factors for drug use among a sample of 333 urban low-income African American young adults. Ethnic and racial identity and Africentric variables moderated the relationship between psychobehavioral variables and drug stage in 32.5% of the cases. Ethnic and racial identity and Africentric values for African American young adults seemed to be important as moderators of the association between psychobehavioral factors and young adult drug use. The authors suggested implications for future research and interventions

For adolescents of color, the search for an identity includes exploring the meanings of their ethnic group membership in the context of White mainstream society. Theory has described ethnic identity development as a process characterized by a period of exploration, followed by commitment. However, little longitudinal research has attempted to test this theoretical model. In addition, most research has not distinguished separate dimensions (cognitive, affective) of ethnic identity. This study explored levels and developmental trajectories of two key dimensions of ethnic identity, exploration and affirmation and belonging, among a sample of 184 low-income ethnic and racial minority urban adolescents (48% male, 28.3% Black, 53.3% Latino, and 18.5% Asian American) over the course of five years. In addition, the study assessed the relationship between these two dimensions of ethnic identity and self-esteem. Consistent with developmental theory, individual growth modeling identified an average curvilinear trajectory of ethnic identity exploration characterized by a peak in the mid to late high school years, followed by a subsequent decrease. However, gender and ethnicity moderated this pattern, and perceived discrimination by peers was related to heightened levels of exploration. For example, while most adolescents showed a leveling off of exploration towards the end of high school, Black males dramatically increased their exploration, possibly due to increasing perceptions of group discrimination directed against young Black males. No average growth pattern was detected in affirmation and belonging, suggesting that developmental change in adolescence may primarily occur in cognitive dimensions, not in affective dimensions of ethnic identity. However, Chinese American adolescents displayed overall lower levels of affirmation and belonging than their Black and Latino peers, possibly due to their marginalized role in their school. Taken together, these findings highlight the distinctness of dimensions of ethnic identity and the importance of contextualizing ethnic identity development. Both ethnic identity exploration and affirmation and belonging contributed significantly to self-esteem. This finding was robust across ethnicity, gender, and immigrant status, suggesting that adolescents from diverse backgrounds benefit from higher levels of ethnic identity.