Within the adolescent risk behavior literature, questions remain about relationships among behaviors in early adolescence, gender, context, and negative social and health outcomes. Additionally, little attention has focused on trajectories of adolescent risk behavior among impoverished African American youth. Using data from the Mobile Youth Survey, a multiple cohort longitudinal study of adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods, we have reduced gaps in the literature by identifying trajectories of alcohol use for males and females separately as a function of early initiation of alcohol use. Our findings indicate that early initiation of alcohol use predicts escalating use at least through age 17. Results are especially notable for females who begin drinking before age 12: They drink significantly more than any other group at age 12 and their trajectory remains the highest through age 17. Our findings about the escalation of drinking have implications for efforts to improve the lives of impoverished adolescents.

Unemployment is associated with increased levels of anxiety, depression, and disconnection among emerging adults. Given the greater risk of unemployment for emerging adults (13.2% in the United States), career adaptability is relevant to understanding how emerging adults survive and thrive in today's challenging work environment. This study examined the effect of career adaptability on subjective well-being in 184 unemployed diverse emerging adults of age 21-29. Results revealed that emerging adults with higher levels of control and confidence had higher life satisfaction. Control was positively related to positive affect while at the same time negatively related to negative affect. Control was the most consistent informant of subjective well-being (significant on all three subscale measures). The implications of the significant findings, and the caution warranted in relation to these findings, are discussed.

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Although the impact of parentification on children and adolescents' psychological health and outcomes has long been studied and well documented, little is known about the impact of parentification on children and adolescents' physical health and medical outcomes. Moreover, the potential buffering effects of parentification have been examined very rarely. The data in the current study were collected from an understudied, high-priority adolescent population (N ¼ 51 rural adolescent-parent dyads). The authors examined the bivariate relations between parent health (alcohol use, depressive symptoms, and body mass index [BMI]), adolescent health (alcohol use, depressive symptoms, and BMI), and parentification. The effect size of the significant bivariate correlations ranged from small to large (r ¼ .29 to r ¼ .62). Parentification was positively associated with parent BMI and adolescent depressive symptoms. Parent alcohol use was strongly associated with adolescent alcohol use. Regression analyses were performed to determine if parentification moderates the relation between parental health and adolescent health. Parentification was found to function as a buffer of the relation between parent alcohol use and adolescent alcohol use. Parentification did not function as a moderator of the relation between parent depressive symptoms and adolescent depressive symptoms nor in the relationship between parent BMI and adolescent BMI. However, parentification did moderate the association between parent alcohol use and adolescent depressive symptoms.