Aims To examine how changes in social roles, particularly in the family, predict rises and falls in alcohol consumption from ages 16 to 50. Design Longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study. Setting The birth cohort includes 99% of British infants born in one week in 1958. Participants After initial assessment of 17,415 infants, the cohort was interviewed at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33, 42, 46, and 50. This study uses the six adolescent through adult waves (n = 7,212 women, 7,377 men). Measurements Alcohol use (i.e., quantity consumed in past week and heavy-daily drinking), symptoms of problem drinking (i.e., CAGE), and social roles (i.e., union formation, parenthood, and employment). Findings Estimates from fixed effects models demonstrate that alcohol use is lower when women reside with child(ren) under age 5, compared to occasions when they do not (estimate=−.38, 95% CI=−.43,−.32 for past week units; OR=.47, CI=.36,.62 for heavy-daily drinking; OR=.66, CI=.50,.87 for CAGE symptoms). Associations are similar for men (estimate=−.29, CI=−.36,−.23; OR=.64, CI=.53,.77; OR=.69, CI=.51,.94, respectively). When women and men are married, working, and residing with young child(ren), past week units (estimate=−.51, CI=−.61,−.41 for women; estimate=−.34, CI=−.44,−.25 for men), heavy-daily drinking (OR=.49, CI=.30,.79 for women; OR=.47, CI=.35,.64 for men), and CAGE (OR=.44, CI=.23,.83 for women; OR=.39, CI=.18,.82 for men) are lower compared to occasions when they are not in these roles. Conclusions From late adolescence to midlife, women and men in Britain are most at risk for higher levels of alcohol consumption and problem drinking when family roles are absent.
Prior research suggests that youths' engagement in out-of-school time programs may be a crucial factor linking program participation to positive outcomes during adolescence. Guided by the theoretical concept of flow and by stage-environment fit theory, the present study explored correlates of engagement in youth programs. Engagement was conceptualized as the extent to which youth found the program activities enjoyable, interesting, and challenging. The current study examined how program content, monetary incentives, and youth demographic characteristics were linked to youth engagement among a sample of primarily low-income middle and high school youth attending 30 out-of-school programs (n = 435, 51 % female). Results from multilevel models suggested that program content and staff quality were strongly associated with youth engagement. Youth who reported learning new skills, learning about college, and learning about jobs through activities in the program were more engaged, as were youth who found the staff caring and competent. Results demonstrated that the link between learning content for the future and engagement was stronger for older youth than younger youth. In addition, there was a trend suggesting that providing a monetary incentive was associated negatively with youth engagement. Taken as a whole, these findings have important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers interested in understanding the characteristics of out-of-school time programs that engage older youth.
How adolescents spend their time has long-term implications for their educational, health, and labor market outcomes, yet surprisingly little research has explored the time use of students across days and semesters. The current study used longitudinal daily diary data from a sample of college students attending a large public university in the Northeastern US (n = 726, Mage = 18.4) that was followed for 14 days within each of 7 semesters (for up to 98 diary days per student). The study had two primary aims. The first aim was to explore demographic correlates of employment time, organized activity time, and academic time. The second aim was to provide a rigorous test of the time trade-off hypothesis, which suggests that students will spend less time on academics when they spend more time on employment and extracurricular activities. The results demonstrated that time use varied by gender, parental education, and race/ethnicity. Furthermore, the results from multi-level models provided some support for the time trade-off hypothesis, although associations varied by the activity type and whether the day was a weekend. More time spent on employment was linked to less time spent on academics across days and semesters whereas organized activities were associated with less time on academics at the daily level only. The negative associations between employment and academics were most pronounced on weekdays. These results suggest that students may balance certain activities across days, whereas other activities may be in competition over longer time frames (i.e., semesters).
Using data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin girls (ages 11–17 at Time 1), we examined sociocultural (i.e., family structure, nativity, and acculturation), interpersonal (i.e., supportive parenting and conflict), and developmental (i.e., menarche timing and autonomy expectations) predictors of sexual initiation. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we explored whether Time 1 variables predicted the occurrence and timing of first sexual intercourse reported 2.5 to 3.5 years later. Results indicated that the likelihood of early sexual intercourse was higher among first-generation than second-generation immigrants. In addition, living with a step-parent (compared to two biological parents) was associated with a higher likelihood of early intercourse. Furthermore, early autonomy expectations emerged as a salient predictor of intercourse, such that girls with earlier autonomy expectations were more likely to have earlier intercourse than girls with later autonomy expectations. Taken together, results highlight the importance of considering developmental and contextual factors when studying Mexican-origin girls’ sexual initiation.
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