Suchergebnisse

During adolescence, teenagers try a range of risk behaviors including smoking, drinking, and the use of soft drugs. Because substance use contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle of teenagers on the short term and can lead to serious health problems on the longer term, prevention in this target group is important. This chapter provides an overview of the determinants of substance use on the one hand, and primary and secondary prevention opportunities on the other hand, especially in the school context. At the end, future directions and recommendations for school, youth, and family are discussed.

In recent years research on parenting has changed stance from one where parents shape child outcomes to an interactive perspective. However this shift is only now transferring to adolescents, with research exploring how the roles that adolescents and parents play in their interactions can lead to problem behaviour. Part of the "Hot Topics in Developmental Research" series, this book presents the new perspective

The influence of parents on their offsprings' peer relations is not limited to childhood but continues throughout the adolescent years. Little is, however, known about which mechanisms link adolescent functioning in family and peer systems. This study focuses on social skills as
a mediator between characteristics of the parent-child relationship and peer relations. Data from a cross-sectional study among 508 12–18-year olds were used for analyses. Findings showed that adolescents' social skills mediated the effects of some parental practices, such as responsiveness,
autonomy, cohesion, as well as parental attachment on the degree of peer activity, the attachment to peers and perceived social support from peers to some extent. Nonetheless, direct parental influence on peer relations remained apparent after controlling for the effects of social skills.
No effects of gender and age were found. The overall picture is that social skills of adolescents as well as parenting factors, parental attachment and family climate are associated with the quality and intensity of peer relations.

Purpose. Assess whether family environmental factors affected changes in fruit and snack consumption among 12- to 14-year-old adolescents participating in a Dutch healthy diet promotion program. Design. Data were derived from pretest and posttest questionnaires completed by adolescents in 10 schools in the intervention arm of the program trial and questionnaires completed by their parents during program implementation. Setting. Lower vocational schools in the southern and central parts of The Netherlands. Subjects. Questionnaire answers of 502 parents were matched with those of their children. Intervention. Eight school lessons using various theory-based materials and strategies. Measures. Dietary intake, ethnicity, education level, employment status, parenting style, food purchase considerations, family food rules, and food availability and accessibility at home. Analysis. Regression analyses. Results. No significant family environmental predictors of program-induced changes in either fruit or snack intake were found. Conclusion. A limitation of the study was that all data were self-reported. No evidence was found that there were subgroups of adolescents who profited less from the program because of family environmental factors.

BackgroundProblematic alcohol use is associated with neuropsychological consequences, including cognitive biases. The goal of the study was to explore the moderating role of executive control and readiness to change on the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive biases in light and problematic drinkers with and without mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID).MethodParticipants (N = 112) performed the visual dot probe task to measure the strength of the cognitive biases. Executive control was measured using two computerised tasks for working memory capacity (Corsi block‐tapping task) and inhibitory control (Go/No‐go task). Readiness to change was measured using the Readiness to Change Questionnaire.ResultsNo cognitive biases or executive dysfunctions were found in problematic drinkers. Working memory capacity and inhibitory control were impaired among individuals with MBID, irrespective of severity of alcohol use‐related problems. Executive control and readiness to change did not moderate the relationship between alcohol use and cognitive biases.ConclusionThe results fail to support the dual‐process models of addiction, but results need to be treated with caution given the problematic psychometric qualities of the visual dot probe task. Implementing a neurocognitive assessment and protocols in the treatment of substance use disorders seems premature.