The Role of Social Contexts in Adolescence: Context Protection and Context Risk in the United States and China

Abstract

A theoretical framework about protective factors (models protection, controls protection, support protection) Concern with the context of human action-its content, structure, organization, and implications for behavior-has burgeoned in recent decades; and research designs in social and developmental psychology have increasingly sought to incorporate measures of the social environment along with individual difference measures. The current preoccupation with context was, of course, presaged long ago by Kurt Lewin (1951) and more recently by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1986), as well as by others. Cronbach (1982), for example, argued that "Understanding an adolescent's experience … seems to require a community-wide ecological perspective" (p. 74) and that perspective has animated a wide array of contemporary studies (e.g., Arthur, Hawkins, Pollard, Catalano, & Baglioni, 2002;Beam, Gil-Rivas, Greenberger, & Chen, 2002;Cook, Herman, Phillips, & Settersten, 2002;Crosnoe, Erickson, & Dornbusch, 2002;Eccles, Early, Frasier, Belansky, & McCarthy, 1997;Elder & Conger, 2000;Elliott et al., 2005;Furstenberg, Cook, Eccles, Elder, & Sameroff, 1999;Herrenkohl et al., 2000;Novak & Clayton, 2001). Such studies have encompassed various domains of the social environment including the family, the peer group, the school, and the neighborhood; and they have investigated a wide range of adolescent experience including depression, academic achievement, delinquency, and substance use.We report a cross-national study of adolescent samples in the United States and the People's Republic of China that employed a psychosocial theory of protective factors and risk factors to articulate the content of four key social contexts of adolescent life-the family, the peer group, the school, and the neighborhood. The protection-risk conceptual framework used in this research emerges from a reformulation and extension of Problem-Behavior Theory

A developmental study of heavy episodic drinking among college students: the role of psychosocial and behavioral protective and risk factors.

“…Controls protection/social (a composite measure that included both peer controls and parental and peer disapproval) and models risk/peers generally had the largest main effects on heavy episodic drinking. Controls protection/social had also emerged in earlier research as a key protective factor in relation to alcohol use and other problem behavior involvement among students in middle school and high school (Costa et al, 2005). The importance of peer models as a social-context risk factor is also consistent both with earlier applications of the protection/risk model to samples of secondary-school students (Costa et al, 1999(Costa et al, , 2005Jessor et al, 2003) and with current literature on college drinking (Borsari and Carey, 2001; Ham and Hope, 2003;Schulenberg and Maggs, 2002).…”

“…Controls protection/social had also emerged in earlier research as a key protective factor in relation to alcohol use and other problem behavior involvement among students in middle school and high school (Costa et al, 2005). The importance of peer models as a social-context risk factor is also consistent both with earlier applications of the protection/risk model to samples of secondary-school students (Costa et al, 1999(Costa et al, , 2005Jessor et al, 2003) and with current literature on college drinking (Borsari and Carey, 2001; Ham and Hope, 2003;Schulenberg and Maggs, 2002).Consistent evidence was found for two moderator effects. Although vulnerability risk/individual was not a significant risk factor for the sample as a whole, the moderator effect of support protection indicates that vulnerability risk/ individual (high stress and low self-esteem) is, indeed, associated withi more frequent heavy episodic drinking for those'stud&nts with low perceived support from parents and teachers.…”

Risk Factors for Exclusive E-Cigarette Use and Dual E-Cigarette Use and Tobacco Use in Adolescents

“…22,23,26,27 Several measures were derived from problem behavior theory, which posits that adolescent substance use derives from rebellion against conventional values, tendency toward acting-out behavior, and affiliation with deviance-prone peers. 20,28,29 Measures were included on rebelliousness and sensation seeking, impulsiveness and emotional dysregulation, and affiliation with peers who smoke. 22,23,[30][31][32][33] An item on perceived health effects of e-cigarettes asked, "Do you think smoking electronic cigarettes is healthier than regular cigarettes?…”

Personalidad y afrontamiento adolescente. Características de personalidad predictoras del afrontamiento en adolescentes de contestos marginados

“…Al respecto, de acuerdo con los indicadores de marginación (CONAPO, 2012), algunos datos parecen sostener el supuesto de que los adolescentes provienen de contextos marginales. Se aprecia que algunas características sociodemográficas de las familias pueden ser consideradas como marcadores de riesgo y marginación económica (Costa et al, 2005;Davey et al, 2003). Por ejemplo, el nivel escolar de la mayoría de ambos padres tiende a ser bajo, y un alto porcentaje de los padres son empleados-obreros.…”

“…Estas estrategias de afrontamiento también se relacionan con otras características como suspicacia, susceptibilidad, así como con conducta antisocial y tendencia al alcoholismo, lo que coincide con algunos hallazgos de estudios con adolescentes en contextos de riesgo (Costa et al, 2005;Davey et al, 2003;Salas-Wright et al, 2013). Asimismo, los datos señalan que características como inmadurez, baja contención de impulsos, depresión, baja autoestima, ansiedad y tendencia al consumo problemático de alcohol y drogas, parecen predecir la falta de estrategias funcionales y productivas como la solución de problemas (Cassaretto, 2010;Connor-Smith & Flashbart, 2007;Contreras et al, 2009).…”