Clyde W. Dent

Parenting style and adolescent depressive symptoms, smoking, and academic achievement: Ethnic, gender, and SES differences

This paper examines whether the relationship between parenting style and adolescent depressive symptoms, smoking, and academic grades varies according to ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Four parenting styles are distinguished, based on patterns of parent-adolescent decision making: autocratic (parents decide), authoritative (joint process but parents decide), permissive (joint process but adolescent decides), and unengaged (adolescent decides). The sample included 3993 15-year-old White, Hispanic, African-American, and Asian adolescents. Results are generally consistent with previous findings: adolescents with authoritative parents had the best outcomes and those with unengaged parents were least well adjusted, while the permissive and the autocratic styles produced intermediate results. For the most part, this pattern held across ethnic and sociodemographic subgroups. There was one exception, suggesting that the relationship between parenting styles, especially the unengaged style, and depressive symptoms may vary according to gender and ethnicity. More research is needed to replicate and explain this pattern in terms of ecological factors, cultural norms, and socialization goals and practices.

A meta-analysis of teen cigarette smoking cessation

OBJECTIVE This article presents a meta-analysis of 48 teen cigarette smoking cessation studies, the 1st meta-analysis of its kind. The authors conducted searches of electronic databases and unpublished manuscripts from 1970 to 2003. Fifty contextual elements were coded from each article. A weighted least squares random effects method was used to pool results from individual study net effects estimates. Multilevel random coefficients modeling was applied to control for the intrastudy variation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome for the present analysis was quit rate. Data were entered as intent-to-treat (ITT) quit rates (not compliance sample rates). Overall treatment effect size and treatment effect sizes as a function of program content, modality, number of sessions, and length of follow-up were examined. RESULTS Across studies, program conditions, compared with control conditions, appeared to give smokers a 2.90% (95% confidence interval = 1.47-4.35%) absolute advantage in quitting, increasing the probability of quitting by approximately 46% (9.14% vs. 6.24%). Relatively higher quit rates were found in programs that included a motivation enhancement component, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and social influence approaches. Also, relatively higher quit rates were found in school-based clinic and classroom modalities. Furthermore, relatively higher quit rates were found for programs consisting of at least 5 quit sessions. Data also indicated that the effects were maintained at short-term (1 year or less) and longer term (longer than 1 year) follow-ups. CONCLUSION Much more teen smoking cessation research is needed, but teen smoking cessation programming is effective, and the present study provides a framework to move forward.

Project towards no drug abuse: a review of the findings and future directions.

OBJECTIVE To provide a review of the evidence from 3 experimental trials of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND), a senior-high-school-based drug abuse prevention program. METHODS Theoretical concepts, subjects, designs, hypotheses, findings, and conclusions of these trials are presented. A total of 2,468 high school youth from 42 schools in southern California were surveyed. RESULTS The Project TND curriculum shows reductions in the use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, weapon carrying, and victimization. Most of these results were replicated across the 3 trials. CONCLUSION Project TND is an effective drug and violence prevention program for older teens, at least for one-year follow-up.

Project towards no tobacco use: 1-year behavior outcomes.

OBJECTIVES We present 1-year follow-up data from a school-based tobacco use prevention project designed to test the effectiveness of three main components of social influence programs. The components teach refusal skills, awareness of social misperceptions about tobacco use, and misconceptions about physical consequences. METHODS Four different curricula were developed and tested in a randomized experiment involving 48 junior high schools. The outcome variables examined were changes in initial and weekly cigarette and smokeless tobacco use 1 year after the intervention. RESULTS Analyses indicated that each of the component programs were effective in decreasing both the initial and the weekly use of cigarettes except for the curriculum in which refusal skills were taught. Also, each curriculum was effective in decreasing the initial use of smokeless tobacco except for the one aimed at correcting social misperceptions. Only the combined curriculum showed an effect on the weekly use of smokeless tobacco. CONCLUSIONS The combined intervention was the most effective overall in reducing the initial and weekly use of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. This suggests that different reasons for use exist and need to be counteracted simultaneously. However, since single programs were also effective in reducing all but weekly smokeless tobacco use, any of these components may be worthwhile prevention tools.

Moderators of Peer Social Influence in Adolescent Smoking

Few studies have examined the relevance of social-influence-related moderator variables in the genesis of adolescent smoking. In the present study, the interactive effects of moderator variables with social influence (peer smoking and peer approval) on adolescent smoking were examined in a sample of high school students. Potential moderator variables of the effects of social influence were self-efficacy judgments, self-esteem, perceived stress, parental supervision after school, and gender. Results demonstrated that self-efficacy judgments signficantly moderated the predictive effects of social influence on smoking tendencies. These findings are consistent with theories suggesting that certain personality or situational variables act as buffers that either protect the adolescent against social influence or make the adolescent more susceptible to such influence.

Demographic, psychosocial and behavioral differences in samples of actively and passively consented adolescents

Requiring active consent from parents leads to different self-reports by adolescents than when it is not required. The present study compares self-reported demographic, psychosocial, and behavior variables between those students from whom active consent was and was not obtained. As found in previous studies, fewer minorities, fewer persons who were dissatisfied with school, fewer persons whose parents were of lower educational levels, and fewer cigarette smokers were represented in the sample recruited by active parental consent. Extending on previous work, we found those students whose parents failed to respond to the consent procedure were less likely to live with both parents, were more likely to be latch-key children, placed a lower priority on health, and were higher in risk-taking, lower in self-esteem, and lower in assertiveness than those whose parents had responded. These data further support the suggestion that those children who are omitted from a research study because of lack of action on the part of the parent are at higher risk for a number of health and social problems. These children need to be included in evaluation samples in order to accurately assess the effectiveness of prevention programming. Future studies should employ a passive consent procedure as a means of recruiting a representative subject pool in school-based prevention research.

Omega: A General Formulation of the Rand Index of Cluster Recovery Suitable for Non-disjoint Solutions

Cluster recovery indices are more important than ever, because of the necessity for comparing the large number of clustering procedures available today. Of the cluster recovery indices prominent in contemporary literature, the Hubert and Arabie (1985) adjustment to the Rand index (1971) has been demonstrated to have the most desirable properties (Milligan & Cooper, 1986). However, use of the Hubert and Arabie adjustment to the Rand index is limited to cluster solutions involving non-overlapping, or disjoint, clusters. The present paper introduces a generalization of the Hubert and Arabie adjusted Rand index. This generalization, called the Omega index, can be applied to situations where both, one, or neither of the solutions being compared is non-disjoint. In the special case where both solutions are disjoint, the Omega index is equivalent to the Hubert and Arabie adjusted Rand index.

Vulnerability to victimization, concurrent problem behaviors, and peer influence as predictors of in-school weapon carrying among high school students

Previous research has indicated the potential relevance of three constructs in the prediction of adolescent weapon carrying, (a) general delinquency, (b) self-protection, and (c) social influence. The current study tests the independent associations between in-school weapon carrying and these three constructs. The sample consisted of 504 students from seven southern California high schools. Overall, 25% of the sample carried a weapon to school in the last year. Self-defense was the most commonly reported reason for in-school weapon carrying. The results from a simultaneous logistic regression analysis indicated increased risk of in-school weapon carrying among students who are male, who are affiliated with gangs or tagging crews, who are exposed to peers who carry weapons to school, and who feel vulnerable to being victimized. Prevention programs targeted at reducing in-school weapon carrying may benefit from a comprehensive focus that includes efforts to reduce involvement in other problem behaviors, influence norms regarding weapon carrying, and reduce actual and perceived vulnerability to victimization.

Alcohol Advertising Exposure and Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Comparison of Exposure Measures

Previous studies have noted an association between exposure to alcohol advertising and adolescent alcohol use. However, exposure to alcohol advertising has been measured in various ways by many researchers. This study examined several different measures of exposure to alcohol advertising, including general television exposure, exposure to televised sports, perceived frequency of alcohol advertising exposure, advertisement recognition, receptivity to alcohol marketing, recall of brand names, and liking of alcohol advertisements. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association of each measure with alcohol use or intentions. In a sample of 591 adolescents in California, several advertising exposure measures were associated significantly with alcohol use: a scale of advertisement liking, a scale of media receptivity, and number of alcohol brands recalled. These associations were significant after controlling for the possible confounding effects of the other advertising exposure measures. Results suggest that both cognitive and affective responses to alcohol advertising may be risk factors for adolescent alcohol use.

The motivation, skills, and decision-making model of "drug abuse" prevention.

This article summarizes the theoretical basis for targeted prevention programs as they apply to different high-risk groups. We explain the advantages and disadvantages of different definitions of risk and discuss strategies for preventing drug use related problems in high-risk youth. Productive prevention programs for many at-risk groups share similar components, including those that address motivation, skills, and decision making. We present key aspects of these three components and link them to theories in clinical psychology, social psychology, sociology, and chemical dependence treatment. Among a total of 29 promising targeted prevention programs, we describe examples of empirically evaluated, intensive interventions that have made a positive impact on the attitudes and behavior of multiple problem youth. Incorporating the perspectives of multiple disciplines appears essential for progress in drug abuse and other problem behavior prevention.