Lee D. Owen

A longitudinal analysis of friendships and substance use: bidirectional influence from adolescence to adulthood.

The reciprocal relation between deviant friendships and substance use was examined from early adolescence (age 13-14) to young adulthood (age 22-23). Deviance within friendships was studied using direct observations of videotaped friendship interaction and global reports of deviant interactions with friends as well as time spent with friends. Substance use was assessed through youth self-report at all time points. Multivariate modeling revealed that substance use in young adulthood is a joint outcome of friendship influence and selection processes. In addition, substance use appears to influence the selection of friends in late adolescence. Findings suggest that effective preventions should target peer ecologies conducive to substance use and that treatment should address both the interpersonal underpinnings and addiction processes intrinsic to chronic use, dependence, and abuse.

Continuity of Parenting Practices Across Generations in an At-Risk Sample: A Prospective Comparison of Direct and Mediated Associations

A prospective model of parenting and externalizing behavior spanning 3 generations (G1, G2, and G3) was examined for young men from an at-risk sample of young adult men (G2) who were in approximately the youngest one third of their cohort to become fathers. It was first predicted that the young men in G2 who had children the earliest would show high levels of antisocial behavior. Second, it was predicted that G1 poor parenting practices would show both a direct association with the G2 sons subsequent parenting and a mediated effect via his development of antisocial and delinquent behavior by adolescence. The young fathers had more arrests and were less likely to have graduated from high school than the other young men in the sample. Findings were most consistent with the interpretation that there was some direct effect of parenting from G1 to G2 and some mediated effect via antisocial behavior in G2.

Heterosexual risk behaviors in at-risk young men from early adolescence to young adulthood: prevalence, prediction, and association with STD contraction.

Health-compromising lifestyles involve stable patterns of behavior and are associated with high-risk social environments and accelerated developmental trajectories. Developmentally, antisocial behavior is associated with such lifestyles. Mediational models predicting a measure of lifetime average sexual risk behavior assessed over a 10-year period (from ages 13-14 to 22-23 years) were examined for a sample of at-risk young men. The measure included years of abstinence from intercourse as well as levels of 3 key heterosexual indicators of risk: frequency of intercourse, number of intercourse partners, and condom use. Predictors included lifetime average measures of contextual, family, and peer process variables and individual behaviors. In addition, similar models for prediction of STD contraction were assessed. A younger age of onset of intercourse was associated with higher numbers of intercourse partners after onset. As hypothesized, findings indicated mediational associations of socioeconomic status, parental monitoring, deviant-peer association, antisocial behavior, and substance use in the prediction of sexual risk behavior. Lower condom use also predicted STD contraction.

Physical aggression in a community sample of at-risk young couples: gender comparisons for high frequency, injury, and fear.

The associations of frequent physical aggression, injury, and fear were examined for a community-based sample of at-risk young couples who were dating, cohabiting, or married. It was hypothesized that frequent physical aggression toward a partner, in the range of shelter samples, is largely caused by antisocial behavior and mutual couple conflict and, thus, that there would be greater similarity across genders in such behavior than has previously been supposed. It was also predicted that levels of injury and fear would be higher in women but that some men would experience these impacts. Findings indicated similarity across genders both in the prevalence of frequent aggression and in its association with antisocial behavior. Furthermore, such aggression was likely to be bidirectional in couples. Contrary to the hypothesis of the study, rates of injury and fear for the women were not significantly higher than for the men.

Substance Use Risk Across Three Generations: The Roles of Parent Discipline Practices and Inhibitory Control

This study used 3 generations and 21 years of prospective data to test models of intergenerational transmission of substance use and substance use risk. Thus, the study extends prior studies in the field that have focused predominantly on substance abuse. The association between the grandparental generations (G1 mother and father) and the parental generations (G2 father) alcohol use and illicit drug use was hypothesized to be mediated by G2s poor inhibitory control. Additionally, G1s poor discipline of G2 was hypothesized to be directly associated with G2s substance use as well as to partially mediate the association between G1s substance use and G2s inhibitory control. In turn, G2s substance use in late adolescence was expected to be associated with its offsprings (G3) poor inhibitory control at age 3 years. Findings partially supported the predictions and varied by substance. For alcohol use, only cross-generational associations in use were found. For illicit drugs, both poor inhibitory control and poor discipline played some mediational role in cross-generational use.

Relationship Separation for Young, At-Risk Couples: Prediction From Dyadic Aggression

Dyadic physical aggression in the relationships of 158 young, at-risk couples was examined as a predictor of relationship separation over the course of 6 years. A high prevalence of physical aggression and a high rate of separation were found, with 80% of couples engaging in physical aggression (as reported by either partner or as observed) and 62% separating over time. As predicted, physical aggression significantly increased the likelihood of relationship dissolution, even after accounting for psychological aggression, prior relationship satisfaction, and relationship contextual factors (length of relationship, relationship type, and children in the household). Of the contextual factors, relationship type was predictive of relationship dissolution: Married couples were least likely to dissolve their relationships compared with cohabiting and dating couples.

Prevalence of suicidal ideation among boys and men assessed annually from ages 9 to 29 years.

In a sample of 206 boys (90% Caucasian), self-reported suicidal ideation (SI; ages 12 to 29) and parent-reported youth suicidal talk (ages 9 to 20) were assessed annually by questionnaire. One-week point prevalence of self-reported SI ranged from 2.6% to 16.3%. New cases emerged across adolescence; by age 29, 57.3% self-reported SI at least once. SI was associated with clinically significant elevations on concurrent depressive symptoms. Nearly one quarter (24.8%) of parents reported suicidal talk by their son by age 20. Parent- and self-reports showed low correspondence. SI was more common than retrospective studies suggest. Parent-reports and one-time self-reports are likely to miss large numbers of adolescent boys who may be at risk.

Growth in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Childhood: A Prospective Study of Psychopathology Across Three Generations

Three generations of participants were assessed over approximately 27 years, and intergenerational prediction models of growth in the third generations (G3) externalizing and internalizing problems across ages 3-9 years were examined. The sample included 103 fathers and mothers (G2), at least 1 parent (G1) for all of the G2 fathers (99 mothers, 72 fathers), and 185 G3 offspring (83 boys, 102 girls) of G2, with prospective data available on the G2 fathers beginning at age 9 years. Behavior of the G2 mother, along with father contact and mother age at birth were included in the models. Intergenerational associations in psychopathology were modest, and much of the transmission occurred via contextual risk within the family of procreation.

The timing of smoking onset, prolonged abstinence and relapse in men: a prospective study from ages 18 to 32 years

AIM To describe the rate and timing of smoking onset, prolonged abstinence (≥1 year) and relapses from ages 18 to 32 years in initially smoking and non-smoking men. DESIGN A 23-year longitudinal study. SETTING Untreated community sample. PARTICIPANTS A total of 154 American boys were recruited at age 10 years to a larger study (n=206) of delinquency risk; 71 participants who smoked cigarettes and did not use smokeless tobacco and 83 participants who initially did not use tobacco were followed from age 18 to 32 years. MEASUREMENTS Frequency of tobacco use and weekly cigarettes smoked in the past year were assessed annually. Onset (>6 cigarettes/week), abstinence (0 tobacco uses in the past year) and relapse (>0 cigarettes/week) were tracked annually. FINDINGS Of smokers, 36% achieved 1 or more years of abstinence by age 32 years; 52% who reached abstinence relapsed at least once. One-half of men who showed onset after age 18 years were smoking at the end of the study, compared to nearly three-quarters of men who were smokers at age 18 years. Risk for relapse following prolonged abstinence was strongest initially and diminished thereafter. Transition probabilities were stronger for the second period of abstinence than for the first. Models were limited by sample size and statistical power. CONCLUSIONS Relapses continue to erode mens quit success even after long periods of abstinence from smoking. Long-term abstinence, despite intervening relapse, bodes well for eventual abstinence. Adolescent onset appears relevant to the likelihood of adult abstinence and relapse patterns.

Parenting and the development of effortful control from early childhood to early adolescence: A transactional developmental model.

Poor effortful control is a key temperamental factor underlying behavioral problems. The bidirectional association of child effortful control with both positive parenting and negative discipline was examined from ages approximately 3 to 13-14 years, involving five time points, and using data from parents and children in the Oregon Youth Study-Three Generational Study (N = 318 children from 150 families). Based on a dynamic developmental systems approach, it was hypothesized that there would be concurrent associations between parenting and child effortful control and bidirectional effects across time from each aspect of parenting to effortful control and from effortful control to each aspect of parenting. It was also hypothesized that associations would be more robust in early childhood, from ages 3 to 7 years, and would diminish as indicated by significantly weaker effects at the older ages, 11-12 to 13-14 years. Longitudinal feedback or mediated effects were also tested. The findings supported (a) stability in each construct over multiple developmental periods; (b) concurrent associations, which were significantly weaker at the older ages;