Suchergebnisse

College students who live off campus vs. on campus substantially differ, which may be due to socialization or self-selection. We examined longitudinal differences in academics and activities, alcohol use and adjustment, and sexual behaviors between college students who remained on campus vs moved off campus (N = 607). Findings provide more support consistent with selection than with socialization effects. At the start of college, students who eventually moved off campus were less likely to work, drank alcohol more frequently, felt better about their self-image in social relationships, and recently had more kissing and penetrative sex partners than their peers who stayed on campus. When there was support for differences in change over time, it generally indicated that the two groups became more, not less, similar. In support of Developmental Systems Theory (Lerner & Walls, 1999), findings suggest students shape their own environments, and have implications for developing targeted prevention programming.

This study examined the developmental pattern of male role attitudes and the within-person association of male role attitudes with self-esteem among college students. On four occasions across 3 years, 408 heterosexual college students (48% male; 28% Latino American, 32% African American, and 40% European American; mean age at Time 1 = 18.46 years) completed surveys. Multilevel models revealed that, although men's male role attitudes became more traditional over the first 2 years of college and more flexible again toward the end, women's male role attitudes remained unchanged over time. Moreover, within-person variation in male role attitudes was negatively linked to men's, but not women's, within-person variation in self-esteem. Findings highlight the importance of studying curvilinear changes in gender development and the adjustment implications of gender-related constructs for college-attending emerging adults.

The present research examines social influences on self‐reported frequency of drunkenness in a longitudinal sample of 1,439 adolescents (46% female, 90% White, mean age = 14 at baseline) with social network measures from friends, romantic partners, and romantic partners' friends. We build on past research by addressing multiple mechanisms of social influence—peers' frequency of drunkenness, alcohol‐related attitudes, and unstructured socializing—across relationship types. Adolescents' drunkenness frequency increased when their friends' and partners' friends' drunkenness frequency increased and when their romantic partners' positive alcohol‐related attitudes increased. Furthermore, the association between unstructured socializing and frequency of drunkenness was stronger for older than younger adolescents. Results advance understanding of the social transmission of alcohol use in adolescence and inform intervention efforts.

Although sexual risk behavior occurs in a dyadic context, most studies of adolescent sexual behavior focus on individuals. This study uses couple data (N = 488 couples) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine how partners' contraceptive attitudes correlate over time and whether male or female partners' attitudes are better predictors of condom use. Net of their own prior attitudes, partners' prior attitudes predicted both male and female adolescents' Wave 2 attitudes. This association was stronger for female than for male adolescents, suggesting that female attitudes were influenced more by males' prior attitudes than vice versa. When entered together, only male adolescents' attitudes predicted dyadic condom use. Findings suggest that male partners may have greater influence on adolescent contraceptive decisions and that prevention programs should emphasize the relational context of sexual behavior.

Daily links between alcohol use and sexual behaviors were examined in a longitudinal study of college students. Hierarchical linear models predicted sexual behaviors by characteristics of persons (N = 731, Level 3), semesters (N = 4,345, Level 2), and days (N = 56,372, Level 1). On a given day, consuming more drinks and binge drinking were associated with greater odds of kissing, touching, oral sex, and penetrative sex. Consistent with alcohol myopia and expectancy theories, associations between binge drinking and sexual behaviors were stronger for students not in romantic relationships, for students with stronger alcohol–sex expectancies, and for oral and penetrative sex. Findings suggest that within‐day links between alcohol use and sexual behaviors are evident across college, with variations based on individual and relationship factors.

AbstractThis study examined the experience of worry in the parent–adult child relationship. A mother, father, and adult son or daughter from 213 families participated (N= 639). Parents and adult children commonly worried about one another and their worry reflected individual characteristics (e.g., neuroticism) and relationship characteristics (e.g., importance of the relationship and ambivalence). In addition, how much adults and their parents worried about one another influenced the other party's perceptions of relationship quality. Specifically, adults and parents rated their relationships more positively and more negatively when the other party reported worrying about them more and communicating their worries to them more frequently. Findings underscore the importance of including experiences such as worry in research on emotional complexities in the parent–adult child relationship.