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Previous research has demonstrated initiation of alcohol during adolescence has a negative effect on both school attendance and missed instruction due to behavior. Utilizing longitudinal data comprised of primarily Black American youth between ages 11 and 18 (N = 931), both the short-term and long-term effects of alcohol initiation were analyzed using a piecewise growth curve model. Results indicated that alcohol initiation negatively impacted school absences, but this effect was unique and independent of the age at which alcohol was initiated. The number of days of missed instruction due to school violations was also negatively impacted, but the effect was found to be more detrimental to those youth initiating alcohol at a younger age. By age 18, early alcohol initiators had a significantly greater number of days of missed instruction due to school violations, yet did not differ in the number of school absences. Implications of the results are discussed.

Although there is much research on adolescent poverty, research related to youth living in communities characterized by extreme poverty who are also identified as academically gifted is lacking. This study explores the development of hopelessness in these youths, compared with peers not identified as gifted, using data from the Mobile Youth and Poverty Study. Specifically, trajectories of hopelessness as a function of gifted status and gender are explored. Results indicate that boys experience greater feelings of hopelessness than girls, regardless of their gifted status, and students identified as gifted have lower levels of hopelessness than their peers not identified as gifted. These latter differences are particularly pronounced during early adolescence (age 10 years) but decline over time and largely disappear by later adolescence (age 18 years). Results suggest that boys may be particularly vulnerable to declining effects of gifted classification as a protector against hopelessness across age and that disadvantaged students who are identified as gifted may benefit from gifted programs that continue at an intense level through their high school years.

While previous research has shown alcohol use to increase developmentally throughout adolescence, the age of alcohol initiation has rarely been incorporated into developmental trajectories. Simultaneous estimation of the effects of early alcohol initiation was made in relation to the recency and frequency of alcohol use utilizing a sample of 1,209 low-income, minority adolescents initiating alcohol between 12 and 18. Significant effects of both age of alcohol initiation and gender were found. Initial alcohol use was higher the later the adolescent initiated alcohol use. Following initiation, trajectories of the recency and frequency of alcohol use for female adolescents increased more rapidly the earlier they initiate alcohol use, while trajectories for male adolescents increased independent of their year of initiation. Modeling age of initiation using piecewise growth models provided more informative results regarding early alcohol initiation effects as compared to traditional longitudinal model.

Suicidality is a significant public health issue for adolescents (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Leading causes of death reports, national and regional, 1999-2015, 2015). Cultural factors such as gender, race, and poverty may place some adolescents at an increased risk for suicidality. The school context has been offered as a setting that may serve as an effective prevention and intervention point for buffering suicidality. Given that adolescents spend a significant amount of time at school, school connectedness, or the sense of belonging to a school community, may be a significant and positive protective factor against social isolation. Undergirded by Joiner's (Why people die by suicide, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2005; The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior: current empirical status, 2009) interpersonal theory of suicide, the current investigation explores the relation between suicidality (i.e., suicide ideations and attempts) and school connectedness. Using a large longitudinal data set (N = 2335), results of two logistic growth models found that school connectedness serves as a strong protective factor for suicidality among Black American adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods. Results showed that school connectedness reduced the probability of suicide ideations and attempts over time and for both females and males. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.

An extensive body of work shows that parental monitoring reduces the likelihood of risky behaviors among youth, yet little attention has been given to the factors compelling parents to engage in monitoring behaviors. The current study examines the association between non-familial, adolescent relationships (i.e., school connectedness, community connectedness, and peer relationships) and parental monitoring. The data used come from the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS), and from 2006 and 2011, resulting in a longitudinal sample of 3,287 adolescents. Longitudinal growth modeling reveals strong associations between non-familial relationships and parental monitoring, along with gendered effects across time. Implications for parental monitoring and delinquency in a low-income, Black American sample are discussed.

Research abounds on adolescent poverty and on gifted education, but these fields are seldom considered together. This study explores trajectories of aggressive behavior (i.e., weapon carrying) of impoverished, gifted youth. Results indicate that gifted students engage in lower levels of weapon carrying than non-gifted students. Gifted and non-gifted girls' trajectories are parallel across age. However, weapon carrying among gifted and non-gifted boys does not differ during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These differences can perhaps be explained by examining impulsivity and temperament trajectories by gifted status. Impulsivity for boys and quick-temperedness for girls is lower during early and middle adolescence for gifted students than for non-gifted students, but not during later adolescence. Quick-temperedness for boys and impulsivity for girls does not differ by gifted status during early and late adolescence, but it does during middle adolescence. These findings suggest that some characteristics of giftedness are manifest during early adolescence (perhaps even before enrollment in a gifted program). However, other giftedness characteristics appear only during middle adolescence, after students have enrolled in the gifted program. Implications of these findings for how gifted education programs can impact aggression, and ways to optimally structure these programs, are explored.

This paper describes a creative partnership between a theologian and a poet arranged by the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts at the University of St Andrews in 2018. The TheoArtistry project seeks to reintroduce artists to traditional religious culture and to foster collaborations between academics and art practitioners (Corbett). In this article we discuss and utilise Theological Action Research methodology (Cameron et al.), to explore the process and outcomes of one such collaboration tasked to produce a poem inspired by an Old Testament passage and the theme of “Annunciation.” The researchers in this collaboration drew on a diverse range of cultural forms and accommodated a position of scepticism towards Christian faith. An examination of the cycles of action and reflection in the production of the poem enables conclusions to be made concerning the impact of this interaction upon the collaborators’ theological thought and practice. This section closes with the final poem and a brief team commentary. The final section evaluates the partnership in terms of the TheoArtistry goals and shows how it both supported the project and set a challenging precedent for broadening the scope of theological openness and inclusivity in future collaborations.

High levels of school connectedness have been shown to be associated with positive outcomes for adolescents (e.g., higher levels of self-worth and higher test scores); however, the impact of school connectedness during early adolescence has not been studied in relation to school-related outcomes during later adolescence. The current study explores the effects of school connectedness in middle school (MS) on high school (HS) outcomes in a sample of Black Americans living in low-income areas of Alabama. Results indicate that higher levels of MS connectedness were significantly related to a higher probability of enrollment in the last 2 years of HS, higher levels of school connectedness in HS, and lower probability of suspensions in HS. High levels of school connectedness in middle school were significantly related to positive outcomes in HS.

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.

Colorectal cancer screening has clear benefits in terms of mortality reduction; however, it is still underutilized and especially among medically underserved populations, including African Americans, who also suffer a disproportionate colorectal cancer burden. This study consisted of a theory-driven (health belief model) spiritually based intervention aimed at increasing screening among African Americans through a community health advisor-led educational series in 16 churches. Using a randomized design, churches were assigned to receive either the spiritually based intervention or a nonspiritual comparison, which was the same in every way except that it did not contain spiritual/religious content and themes. Trained and certified peer community health advisors in each church led a series of two group educational sessions on colorectal cancer and screening. Study enrollees completed a baseline, 1-month, and 12-month follow-up survey at their churches. The interventions had significant pre-post impact on awareness of all four screening modalities, and self-report receipt of fecal occult blood test, flexible sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy. There were no significant study group differences in study outcomes, with the exception of fecal occult blood test utilization, whereas those in the nonspiritual intervention reported significantly greater pre-post change. Both of these community-engaged, theory-driven, culturally relevant approaches to increasing colorectal cancer awareness and screening appeared to have an impact on study outcomes. Although adding spiritual/religious themes to the intervention was appealing to the audience, it may not result in increased intervention efficacy. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

Two waves of longitudinal data were used to examine the sequencing between violent victimization, violent behavior, and gun carrying in a high-poverty sample of African American youth. Multivariate logistic regression results indicated that violent victimization T1 and violent behavior T1 increased the likelihood of initiation of gun carrying T2 when examined separately (by 132% and 91%, respectively). However, only violent victimization T1 was a significant predictor of initiation of gun carrying T2 after controlling for violent behavior T1. More nuanced analyses uncovered no significant difference in the likelihood of initiating gun carrying when comparing offensive versus defensive gun carriers. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are also discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

Two waves of longitudinal data from 1,049 African American youth living in extreme poverty are used to examine the impact of exposure to violence (Time 1) and violent behavior (Time 1) on first time gun carrying (Time 2). Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that (a) violent behavior (Time 1) increased the likelihood of initiation of gun carrying (Time 2) by 76% after controlling for exposure to violence at Time 1, which is consistent with the stepping stone model of youth gun carrying, and (b) youth who were both exposed to violence at Time 1 and engaged in violent behavior at Time 1 were more than 2.5 times more likely to initiate gun carrying at Time 2 compared to youth who had neither of these characteristics, which supports the cumulative risk model of youth gun carrying. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in clarifying the role of violence in the community on youth gun carrying and the primary prevention of youth gun violence. (Contains 4 tables.)

Five waves of longitudinal data collected from 349 African American youth living in extreme poverty were used to determine if parental monitoring shielded youth from exposure to violence during adolescence. Semiparametric group-based modeling was used to identify trajectories of parental monitoring and exposure to violence from T1 to T5. Results from these analyses revealed (a) about 52% of youth had a trajectory of hypervigilant parental monitoring and (b) two out of the five distinct trajectories of exposure to violence were low and/or declining over the 5-year time period. Multivariate findings indicated that (a) youth with a trajectory of hypervigilant parenting were 109% more likely to have middle-declining exposure to violence, but hypervigilant parenting was unrelated to stable and low exposure to violence T1 to T5. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings as well as areas for future research are also discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Three waves of longitudinal data from a high poverty sample of 1544 African American youth were used to test an ecological-transactional model of violence. SEM analyses were conducted to determine whether parenting (Time 2) mediated the effects of exposure to violence (Time 1) on violent behaviors (Time 3). Findings supported the specified model. Multigroup SEM analyses indicated that neither family structure nor developmental stage (early versus middle/late adolescence) moderated these effects. However, exposure to violence had a larger effect on violent behaviors in female versus male youth, although the difference was simply in magnitude, not direction. A final model that predicted change scores also provided support for the hypothesized ecological-transactional model of violence. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

The change and stability of antisocial behavior during adolescence has triggered interest in a number of social scientific disciplines. This article longitudinally examines pathways of antisocial behavior among predominantly African American adolescents residing in inner-city, poor neighborhoods. Data were collected from 354 youth (ages 12 through 15) in an ongoing longitudinal study designed to identify the life-course trajectories of behaviors and associated developmental outcomes in inner-city youth. Growth mixture modeling was used to classify antisocial behavior trajectories, which identified three distinct developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior: high starter, incremental, and steady. Understanding developmental trajectories of antisocial behaviors is important in that it informs prevention and intervention efforts, particularly for high-risk youth populations. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

A growing body of research has linked exposure to violence to violent behavior, but few studies have examined the impact of the timing of exposure to violence on violent behavior among inner city, minority youth. Theoretical insights derived from developmental psychology and psychopathology (DPP) and Agnew's general strain theory (GST) give contrasting accounts of whether exposure to violence has a short term or long term impact on violent behavior. Five waves of data collected from African American youth living in twelve high poverty inner city neighborhoods was used to examine how the timing of exposure to violence over a four year time period impacts year five violent behavior. Multivariate results support GST's contention that more proximal exposure to violence has a larger impact on violent behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for adolescent development in high poverty settings are discussed.

The current longitudinal study examined the protective effects of parenting processes on measures of adolescent adjustment (health-compromising and violent behaviors) in a sample of high-risk, inner-city, poor African American youth N = 2,867). Parenting processes played an important role in this dangerous developmental milieu. For male adolescents, they accounted for 26 to 37% in health-compromising behaviors and 16 to 24% of the total variance in violent behaviors over time. Multigroup SEM analyses by sex and age groups (early, middle, and late adolescents) indicated no differences of these effects across groups. Findings provided evidence that parenting processes are salient for a high-risk, inner-city minority population in understanding and predicting health-compromising and violent behaviors. (Contains 5 tables and 5 figures.)

Interviewed 257 impoverished, urban public housing residents regarding how empowerment, sense of community, and neighboring behavior affected the likelihood of their engaging in discussion about community issues directly affecting their lives and the lives of their neighbors. Overall, sense of community and neighboring behaviors predicted discussion about local issues, with neighboring behaviors the most important. (Contains references.) (SM)