Pubertal maturation and early substance use risks among African American children.
Using 2 waves of longitudinal data collected from approximately 870 African American adolescents, this study examined (a) changes in early risk factors for substance use during transition to early adolescence, including perceived prototypes of substance-using peers, willingness and intention to use substances, number of substance-using peers, and youths' own actual substance use; (b) the relationship between pubertal timing and these substance use risks; and (c) the interaction between pubertal timing and peer substance use in predicting the risks. Results showed that, first, risks for substance use increased, particularly among girls, during the transition to early adolescence. Children's prototypic images of substance users became increasingly favorable during this transitional period; a greater number of them were willing and intended to use substances during the transition to early adolescence; and an increased number of early adolescents and their friends began to use substances. Second, these changes were significantly more likely to occur among early maturing girls. Third, early physical maturation interacted with peer substance use to affect these changes.
Ge
Xiaojia
X
Department of Human and Community Development, University of California, Davis, CA, USA. xjge@ucdavis.edu
Jin
Run
R
Natsuaki
Misaki N
MN
Gibbons
Frederick X
FX
Brody
Gene H
GH
Cutrona
Carolyn E
CE
Simons
Ronald L
RL
D000293:Adolescent; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D012928:Social Desirability; D012931:Social Environment; D012932:Social Facilitation; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D001741:Black or African American