Racial differences in legal socialization models across adolescence and emerging adulthood.

OBJECTIVE: White and non-White adolescents report different experiences in the legal system. This disparity impacts their evaluations of, and attitudes toward, legal authorities such that non-White and older adolescents tend to perceive the legal system more negatively. Yet, many researchers assume that the process of legal socialization, which involves internalizing norms and information about the law and the legal system, is universal for all ages and races. HYPOTHESES: We hypothesized that legal socialization models would change over the course of adolescent development and would differ by race. METHOD: We used data from two longitudinal studies to examine racial differences in the integrated legal socialization model in early, middle, and late adolescence. Study 1 included 140 young adolescents (59% White, 41% non-White), and Study 2 included 296 midadolescents (82% White, 18% non-White) followed into late adolescence/emerging adulthood. RESULTS: Study 1 identified differences in the integrated legal socialization model for young White and non-White adolescents. Normative status predicted rule-violating behavior for White participants, whereas no predictors or mediators related to rule-violating behavior for non-White participants. In Study 2, legal and moral reasoning during midadolescence became relevant in the model for both groups. Enforcement status predicted rule-violating behavior for non-White youth, whereas normative status continued to predict rule-violating behavior for White youth. In late adolescence/emerging adulthood, differences in the model shifted toward the relation between reasoning and legal attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that legal socialization is a developmental process occurring and changing throughout adolescence and that this developmental process differs for White and non-White youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents' Future Aspirations and Expectations in the Context of a Shifting Rural Economy.

Adolescents' future aspirations and expectations influence the decisions they make as they transition into adulthood. However, less is known about how specific sociocultural factors interact with the formation of future aspirations and expectations and their association with goal attainment in emerging adulthood. The present study begins to fill this gap by using person-centered analysis with high school students (N = 517; 53% female; 92% white) from a rural county undergoing significant economic transition. Its aim was to identify future orientation profiles based on adolescent-reported future aspirations and expectations for success in both education and career. Four latent profiles were identified and labeled: universally high aspirations and expectations; low college aspirations and expectations; lower aspirations than expectations; and universally low aspirations and expectations. Significant gender differences were found. High school males were less likely to be in the universally high profile and more likely to be in the universally low and low college aspirations and expectations profiles. Future orientation profile placement was associated with differences in adolescent experiences in family, school, and community contexts as well as their work and education status and future residential aspirations in emerging adulthood. The findings inform future research and applied efforts focused on rural youth's preparation for adult roles, and on retaining rural youth, a necessity for the vitality of rural communities.

Race, Coping Style, and Substance Use Disorder Among Non-Hispanic African American and White Young Adults in South Florida.

BACKGROUND: Despite their higher rates of stress, African American young adults tend toward similar or lower rates of substance misuse than their White counterparts. Arguably, such patterns derive from: (1) racial variations in the availability of coping strategies that mitigate stress; and/or (2) racial differences in the efficacy of available coping styles for reducing substance misuse. OBJECTIVES: We assessed whether two coping style types-problem-focused and avoidance-oriented-varied by race (non-Hispanic African American vs. non-Hispanic White) and whether the effects of coping styles on substance misuse were moderated by race. METHODS: Using data from a community sample of South Florida young adults, we employed logistic regression analyses to examine racial differences in coping style and to test if race by coping style interactions (race × problem-focused coping and race × avoidance-oriented coping) influenced the odds of qualifying for a DSM-IV substance use disorder, net of lifetime stressful events and sociodemographic controls. RESULTS: We found that African American young adults displayed lower problem-focused coping, and higher avoidance-oriented coping, than did White young adults. Among both African American and White respondents, problem-focused coping was associated with reduced odds of illicit drug use disorder (excluding marijuana), and among Whites, avoidance-oriented coping was associated with increased odds of an aggregate measure of alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use disorders. Among African Americans, however, avoidance-oriented coping was associated with lower odds of marijuana use disorder. CONCLUSION: Substance misuse policies and practices that consider the sociocultural contexts of stress and coping are recommended.

Breadth of participation in organized and unstructured leisure activities over time and rural adolescents' functioning.

Discretionary time outside of school offers a distinct context that can promote adolescent development; however, potential for growth depends in part on how this time is used. In this study, person-centered analyses were used to examine patterns of breadth of participation in both organized and unstructured leisure activities among rural adolescents (N = 276, 49% female) across grades 7, 8, and 10. Adjusting for self-selection factors, the study associated these patterns with 10th grade outcomes. Three profiles of participation emerged: consistently low breadth, consistently average breadth, and consistently high breadth of involvement in both organized and unstructured leisure activities over time. The most popular activity types across profile groups were hanging out with friends, team sports, and outdoor activities. Adolescents involved in a greater breadth of organized activities reported the greatest breadth of involvement in unstructured leisure and the best functioning. Adolescents with low breadth of involvement in both organized and unstructured leisure activities consistently showed poorer outcomes. Adolescents in the high breadth of involvement profile were engaged in all activity types at higher rates than adolescents in the average and low breadth of involvement profiles. We advocate for continued efforts to increase adolescent participation in a variety of different types of out-of-school activities.

Rural parents' messages to their adolescent sons and daughters to leave their home communities.

The perceptions of 354 seventh and eleventh graders regarding the frequency and nature of their rural parents' messages to them and their closest-in-age sibling to leave their home communities after high school were explored. Survey data showed that almost half (54%) perceived that their parents encouraged them and/or their closest-in-age sibling to leave the area and about 19% of that group reported that their parents' messages to leave were inconsistent between them and their closest sibling. Parents' messages did not differ by youths' sex or age. Consistency of parents' messages between siblings was associated with youths' well-being, family relationship experiences, and future residential preferences. Semi-structured interviews with a subsample of seventh graders and their mothers highlighted parents' and youths' perspectives on parents' messages. This work highlights the familial processes associated with youth future planning and extends the current work on parents' differential treatment of siblings.

Proactive and reactive sibling aggression and adjustment in adolescence.

Existing research on aggression tends to narrowly focus on peers; less is known about sibling aggression, most likely due to its historical acceptance. Aggression is characterized by its forms (i.e., physical vs. social or relational aggression) and its functions (i.e., the motivations behind the aggressive act and categorized as proactive vs. reactive aggression). We use data from a two-wave study of middle (n = 197; M age = 12.63 years at Wave 1) and older (n = 159; M age = 16.50 years at Wave 1) adolescents to assess the extent to which proactive and reactive functions of sibling aggression make unique or conditional contributions to adolescent adjustment (i.e., depression, delinquency, and substance use). We find that proactive sibling aggression increases risk for problem substance use and delinquent behavior, reactive sibling aggression increases risk for depressed mood and delinquent behavior, and such results are observed even with statistical adjustments for sociodemographic and family variables, stressful life events, and prior adjustment. Few conditional effects of proactive or reactive sibling aggression by sex or grade are observed; yet, for all three outcomes, the harmful effects of reactive sibling aggression are strongest among adolescents who report low levels of proactive sibling aggression. The results speak to the importance of understanding the proactive and reactive functions of sibling aggressive behaviors for adolescent adjustment.