Christine Jackson

Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior

OBJECTIVE. To assess over time whether exposure to sexual content in 4 mass media (television, movies, music, and magazines) used by early adolescents predicts sexual behavior in middle adolescence. METHODS. An in-home longitudinal survey of 1017 black and white adolescents from 14 middle schools in central North Carolina was conducted. Each teen was interviewed at baseline when he or she was 12 to 14 years old and again 2 years later using a computer-assisted self interview (audio computer-assisted self-interview) to ensure confidentiality. A new measure of each teen’s sexual media diet (SMD) was constructed by weighting the frequency of use of 4 media by the frequency of sexual content in each television show, movie, music album, and magazine the teen used regularly. RESULTS. White adolescents in the top quintile of sexual media diet when 12 to 14 years old were 2.2 times more likely to have had sexual intercourse when 14 to 16 years old than those who were in the lowest SMD quintile, even after a number of other relevant factors, including baseline sexual behavior, were introduced. The relationship was not statistically significant for black adolescents after controlling for other factors that were more predictive, including parental disapproval of teen sex and perceived permissive peer sexual norms. CONCLUSIONS. Exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines accelerates white adolescents’ sexual activity and increases their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse. Black teens appear more influenced by perceptions of their parents’ expectations and their friends’ sexual behavior than by what they see and hear in the media.

The Authoritative Parenting Index: Predicting Health Risk Behaviors Among Children and Adolescents:

Public health research demonstrates increasing interest in mobilizing parental influence to prevent health risk behaviors among children and adolescents. This research focuses on authoritative parenting, which previous studies suggest can prevent health risk behaviors among youth. To evaluate the reliability and validity of a new survey measure of authoritative parenting, data from studies of (1) substance use in a sample of 1,236 fourth and sixth-grade students; (2) weapon carrying and interpersonal violence in a sample of 1,490 ninth- and tenth-grade students, and (3) anger, alienation, and conflict resolution in a sample of 224 seventh- and eighth-grade students were analyzed. The Authoritative Parenting Index had a factor structure consistent with a theoretical model of the construct; had acceptable reliability; showed grade, sex, and ethnic differences consistent with other studies; and identified parenting types that varied as hypothesized with multiple indicators of social competence and health risk behaviors among children and adolescents.

Initial and experimental stages of tobacco and alcohol use during late childhood: relation to peer, parent, and personal risk factors.

A staged model of smoking adoption has been widely applied in studies of adolescent smoking. The present study applied this model to examine the preliminary stages of tobacco and alcohol use by children. Using discriminant analysis, factors associated with the abstinence, initiation, and experimentation stages of tobacco and alcohol use were compared in a sample of 1,272 children in grades 4 and 6. Modeling of use by best friends and the perceived prevalence of use among same-age peers were most strongly related to the initiation and experimentation stages of tobacco and alcohol use. Other key factors were offers from parents and friends, adjustment to school, and behavioral self-regulation. The weakest factors were parental modeling and self-esteem. The initiation and experimentation stages are not as highly differentiated among children as other studies have found them to be among adolescents, suggesting that if initiation occurs during childhood, progression to experimentation is likely. Prevention programs could simultaneously influence childrens risk of tobacco and alcohol use by targeting the common risk factors for preliminary use of these substances.

The early use of alcohol and tobacco: its relation to children's competence and parents' behavior:

OBJECTIVES Use of tobacco and alcohol during childhood predicts heavy use of these substances and use of illicit drugs during adolescence. This study aims to identify developmental correlates of tobacco and alcohol use among elementary-school children. METHODS Cross-sectional surveys were used to measure tobacco and alcohol use, multiple indicators of child competence, parenting behaviors, and parental modeling of tobacco and alcohol use in a sample of 1470 third- and fifth-grade children. Both self-report and teacher-rated assessments were obtained, which allowed collateral testing of study hypotheses. RESULTS Childrens tobacco and alcohol use was strongly related to low scores on several measures of child competence, both self-reported and teacher rated. Childrens tobacco and alcohol use was also associated with less effective parenting behaviors and with parental use of tobacco and alcohol. CONCLUSIONS Childrens early experience with tobacco and alcohol is associated with weak competence development and exposure to socialization factors that promote risk taking. Interventions to prevent early use of tobacco and alcohol are needed.

Authoritative Parenting, Child Competencies, and Initiation of Cigarette Smoking

School-based social influence programs to prevent adolescent smoking are having limited success in the long term. Intervening earlier in the process of smoking onset, during the childhood years, may be required to prevent adolescent smoking. Child socialization variables, specifically parenting behaviors and child competencies, may be important to understanding the earliest phase of smoking onset. This study tested hypotheses of association between authoritative parenting behaviors, enhanced child competencies, and relatively low rates of initiation of cigarette smoking. Analyzing cross-sectional survey data from 937 students in Grades 3 to 8, we found general support for the study hypotheses: Authoritative parenting was positively associated with child competencies ; childrens competency levels were inversely related to their rates of smoking intention, initiation, and experimentation; authoritative parenting was inversely related to rates of child smoking intention and behaviors; and authoritative parenting and parent smoking status had independent associations with child initiation of cigarette smoking. These results indicate that child socialization variables merit further investigation for their potential role in the development of early intervention programs for smoking prevention.

A Longitudinal Study Predicting Patterns of Cigarette Smoking in Late Childhood

Early initiation of cigarette smoking so strongly predicts future smoking that several investigators have advocated delaying the age of initiation as a prevention strategy. To complement retrospective studies of early initiation, this study assessed prospectively patterns of smoking behavior in a sample of401 children who were surveyed in the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. The principal findings were (1) modeling of smoking by parents and friends is sufficient to influence children to initiate smoking, particularly when children also have low behavioral self-control, and (2) when modeling occurs in combination with poor adjustment to school, low parental monitoring, easy access to cigarettes, and other risk attributes, early initiators are significantly more likely to continue smoking. The results suggest that delaying initiation of smoking without also modifying child attributes and socialization factors that predict early initiation and persistent smoking is unlikely to reduce the proportion of children who become habitual smokers.

Does tobacco marketing undermine the influence of recommended parenting in discouraging adolescents from smoking

OBJECTIVE The tobacco industry contends that parenting practices, not marketing practices, are critical to youth smoking. Our objective was to examine whether tobacco-industry marketing practices undermine the protective effect of recommended authoritative parenting against adolescent smoking. DESIGN AND SETTING Receptivity to tobacco advertising and promotions was assessed in 1996 from a representative sample of California adolescent never-smokers aged 12 to 14 years. A follow-up survey of 1641 of these adolescents was conducted in 1999 that included measures of the key components of authoritative parenting: parental responsiveness, monitoring, and limit setting. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Smoking initiation in adolescents. RESULTS Adolescents in families with more-authoritative parents were half as likely to smoke by follow-up as adolescents in families with less-authoritative parents (20% vs 41%, p <0.0001). In families with more-authoritative parents, adolescents who were highly receptive to tobacco-industry advertising and promotions were significantly more likely to smoke (odds ratio=3.52, 95% confidence interval =1.10-11.23), compared to those who were minimally receptive. This effect was not significant in adolescents in families with less-authoritative parents. The overall attributable risk (adjusted for exposure to peer smokers) of smoking from tobacco-industry advertising and promotions was 25%. However, an estimated 40% of adolescent smoking in families with more-authoritative parents was attributable to tobacco-industry advertising and promotions; this was five times the attributable risk seen in families with less-authoritative parents (8%). CONCLUSION The promotion of smoking by the tobacco industry appears to undermine the capability of authoritative parenting to prevent adolescents from starting to smoke.

Can parents who smoke socialise their children against smoking? Results from the Smoke-free Kids intervention trial

Objective: To evaluate Smoke-free Kids, a new home based programme to assist parents who smoke in socialising their children against smoking. Design: Two year randomised controlled trial. Participants: At baseline, 887 adult smokers who had an abstinent child in the third grade (ages 7–8 years); 671 adults and children were retained through the 24 month follow up. Intervention: Programme modules, newsletters, incentives, support calls. Outcomes: Anti-smoking socialisation; susceptibility to smoking. Results: Of 327 parents randomised to treatment, 210 obtained adequate treatment by using at least three of five core modules. Programme efficacy analyses, which compared these parents with controls (n = 344), showed that exposure to adequate treatment predicted significantly higher levels in nearly all categories of anti-smoking socialisation three months post-intervention. Two years post-baseline, children of parents who reported adequate treatment scored significantly higher than controls on attributes that reduce susceptibility to smoking, and they scored significantly lower than controls on attributes that raise susceptibility to smoking. Programme effectiveness analyses compared all parents randomised to treatment (n = 327) with controls (n = 344). Treatment effects were evident for several socialisation outcomes; however, these effects were smaller and less consistent than those from the efficacy analyses. Similarly, although treated children scored higher than controls on attributes that reduce susceptibility and lower than controls on attributes that raise susceptibility, several of these between-group differences were not significant. Conclusions: Given adequate exposure to the Smoke-free Kids programme, significant beneficial effects were observed on anti-smoking socialisation in households where parents smoke cigarettes, and significant beneficial effects were observed on children’s susceptibility to smoking after two years. Improving programme acceptance and utilisation is necessary before programme effectiveness can be demonstrated.

Reliability of children's self-reported cigarette smoking.

Youth who first smoke cigarettes during childhood are a high risk for habitual smoking. Evaluating the reliability of childrens smoking initiation is essential to research efforts to explain or prevent smoking onset. The present study is the first to establish reliability of self-reported smoking behavior with questionnaire data from elementary school children (N = 1,184). Data from a longitudinal investigation are used to examine the consistency of childrens self-reported smoking across items and over time. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses demonstrate that children report having tried smoking and lifetime use remarkably consistently. However, only about half the children reliably estimated their grade at first use. The study results suggest that some but not all standard questionnaire items yield reliable self-report data about initial smoking behavior from respondents as young as 8 to 11 years.

The effect of perceived control over eating on the life satisfaction of women and men: Results from a community sample

OBJECTIVE To test whether overweight, or perception of lack of control over eating, or both, contributed to the level of life satisfaction for women and men in a random sample of community-dwelling adults. METHOD This study examined the effects of body mass index (BMI) and perceived control over eating on life satisfaction for women and men in a community-based sample of 1,069 women and 963 men. RESULTS For women, both lack of perceived eating control and higher BMI were associated with less life satisfaction, and lack of control over eating was the more important predictor. For men, only lack of perceived eating control was associated with less life satisfaction. Furthermore, for both women and men, the contribution of eating control to life satisfaction was unaffected by BMI, that is, the life satisfaction of heavier people was not more affected by perceived control over eating than was the life satisfaction of lighter people. DISCUSSION These findings suggest that psychological issues related to eating and weight can affect global aspects of well-being.