The Effects of Parenting and Family Functioning on Adolescent Behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的总体目的是帮助设计更有效的以家庭为基础的预防干预措施，以减少青少年性行为。由于许多问题与现有的工具，本研究的具体目的是开发和验证一个全面的和系统为基础的措施养育和家庭功能，可以可靠和有效地用于更大的研究与不同的美国家庭。该仪器将根据Likert（1932）标度法的五个步骤进行开发。通过审查现有文书，将产生一套详尽的项目，涵盖所有感兴趣的结构。每个项目将由一个专家小组进行评分。为了进一步简化该工具，以及评估每个变量的心理测量特性，该工具将分三个阶段对参与者进行管理和测试。最终入选的项目将在每个阶段通过一套严格的标准。在第一阶段，最初的一套项目将在线管理约300名18-19岁的本科生，来自不同的种族背景。为了进一步完善该工具，在第二阶段将与父母和青少年举行重点小组会议。在研究的第三阶段和主要部分，约150名非洲裔美国人和150名欧洲裔美国青少年和他们的父母（N=600）将从一个更大的池中的合格学生在经济和种族多样化的高中在大芝加哥地区进行抽样。将对相同数量的男性和女性进行采样。青少年和父母将完成性活动、药物使用、心理健康、家庭功能新措施和家庭功能原有措施的措施。将使用标准结构方程建模程序，通过变量水平验证性因子分析对工具的因子结构进行检验。将使用坎贝尔和Risk（1959）的多方法多性状矩阵技术评估工具的收敛和判别有效性。可能的种族和性别差异，以及父母和青少年之间的差异也将进行评估。由于许多独特的功能，预计新的措施将是一个更好的预测青少年性行为，特别是对非洲裔美国青年，比其他措施。如果是这样，它将对更大规模的研究和以家庭为基础的预防干预措施的设计和成功产生重要影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The general purpose of this study is to help design more effective family-based prevention interventions for reducing adolescent sexual behavior. Because of many problems with preexisting instruments, the specific aim of this research is to develop and validate a comprehensive and systems based measure of parenting and family functioning that can be reliably and efficiently used in larger studies with diverse American families. The instrument will be developed according to the five steps of Likert's (1932) scaling method. An exhaustive set of items that cover all the constructs of interest will be generated by reviewing existing instruments. Each item will then be rated by a panel of experts. To further reduce the instrument, as well as assess the psychometric properties of each variable, the instrument will be administered to participants and tested in three phases. Items selected for final inclusion will pass a stringent set of criteria at each phase. During the first phase, the initial set of items will be administered online to approximately 300 18-19 year old undergraduate students from various racial backgrounds. To further refine the instrument, focus groups with parents and adolescents will occur during the second phase. During the third phase and main portion of the study, approximately 150 African American and 150 European American adolescents and one of their parents (N=600) will be sampled from a larger pool of eligible students at an economically and racially diverse high school in the greater Chicago area. Equal numbers of males and females will be sampled. Adolescents and parents will complete measures of sexual activity, drug use, psychological health, the new measure of family functioning and preexisting measures of family functioning. The factor structure of the instrument will be tested with variable-level confirmatory factor analyses using standard structural equation modeling procedures. Campbell and Risk's (1959) Multi-Method-Multi-Trait matrix technique will be used to assess the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. Possible racial and gender differences, as well as differences between parents and adolescents will also be assessed. Because of many unique features, it is expected that the new measure will be a better predictor of adolescent sexual behavior, especially for African American youth, than other measures. If so, it will have important implications for the design and success of larger studies and family-based prevention interventions.