Suchergebnisse

Purpose.Relationships between positive health behaviors and abusable substance use in preadolescent, urban, African-American schoolchildren were investigated.Design.Personal interviews and classroom surveys were used to assess health behavior and abusable substance use cross-sectionally.Setting.All respondents resided in the District of Columbia and attended the public school system.Subjects.The sample consisted of 303 urban, African-American fourth and fifth graders (151 boys, 152 girls).Measures.Classroom surveys assessed drinking, drinking without parental knowledge, smoking, use of other abusable substances, friends' use, self-esteem, and academic performance. Personal interviews assessed children's diet, exercise, overall health behavior, and socioeconomic status.Results.Logistic regressions showed that children who engaged in more health behaviors (exercise and proper nutrition) were one-third less likely to have smoked (OR=0.66) or to have drunk alcohol (OR=0.63) than those who engaged in fewer healthful activities. However, when gender, socioeconomic status, self-esteem, academic performance, personal use, and friends' use of other abusable substances were controlled, relationships were no longer statistically significant.Conclusions.These findings suggest that although positive health behaviors appear to be inversely related to abusable substance use in urban, African-American préadolescents, the relationship may be spurious.

This paper examines differences in life satisfaction among children in different family structures in 36 western, industrialised countries (n = 184 496). Children living with both biological parents reported higher levels of life satisfaction than children living with a single parent or parent–step‐parent. Children in joint physical custody reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction than their counterparts in other types of non‐intact families. Controlling perceived family affluence, the difference between joint physical custody families and single mother or mother–stepfather families became non‐significant. Difficulties in communicating with parents were strongly associated with less life satisfaction but did not mediate the relation between family structure and life satisfaction. Children in the Nordic countries characterised by strong welfare systems reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction in all living arrangements except in single father households. Differences in economic inequality between countries moderated the association between certain family structures, perceived family affluence and life satisfaction.