title: Structure of problem and positive behaviors in African American youths.
abstract: The association of 21 problem and positive behaviors was explored in a sample of 283 inner-city, African American youths of ages 8 through 12. Data reduction yielded 4 factors, 3 representing different types or levels of problem behavior, labeled Interpersonal-Minor Deviance, School Problems, and Covert-High Deviance, and 1 representing positive behaviors. The 3 problem behavior factors, although not the positive behavior factor, were significantly correlated with an underlying second-order general deviance factor. The problem behavior clusters identified differed by the settings in which they occur as well as their inherent magnitude of deviance. Discriminant validity analyses confirmed that deviance was not a unitary phenomenon. Limitations as well as other implications of the data are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Population and Family Health, Columbia University College of Physicians.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Resnicow
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ross-Gaddy
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Vaughan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders