ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR: FAMILY AND NON-FAMILY INFLUENCES

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We request support for a second continuation of a previously funded project lasting 3+ years. The goal of the overall project has been to examine the adolescent development of "transition behaviors," including mild deviance, delinquency, and sexuality. More specifically, we have been studying the role that different individuals play in influencing adolescents to engage (or not to engage) in transition behaviors. We have used two complementary datasets, an intact school longitudinal dataset (the ADSEX data) and a nationally representative dataset (the NLSY data); both data sources have sibling information and measures of deviance and sexuality. Our general approach has involved comparing adolescent pairs (siblings, best friends, and other friends) that reflect different shared environments. In the proposed continuation we wish to extend our interest to a wider group of family members using the NLSY data. In our Intra-generational Study (designed for the first two years of our continuation), we will investigation relationships between twins, siblings, cousins, second- cousins, and step-cousins. In our Inter-generational Study (designed for the third and fourth years of our continuation), we will investigate links between mother-child, uncle-niece, uncle-nephew, aunt-niece, and aunt- nephew. These various links can be used within our conceptual framework to study the similarity of individuals who share different levels of family environment and genetic relatedness. The dependent variables in which we have interest include measures of problem behaviors, the home environment, and intellectual ability in children aged 6-14+; and deviance, sexuality, and intellectual ability as variables linking the two generations. The long-range goals of our project are the same as in our original proposal: To develop understanding of environmental influences on developing children (using family data to control for some genetic confounds) in regards "transition behaviors."