Biomedical subjects

R H Aseltine

Publications and source records attributed to R H Aseltine.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

The variable effects of stress on alcohol use from adolescence to early adulthood.

Despite evidence of a strong association between stress and level of drinking in adolescent populations, the role of stress in accounting for changes in drinking behavior throughout the adolescent years is unclear. This study uses a linear growth curve analysis to examine the determinants of within-individual changes in drinking frequency and binge drinking across five waves of data from a community sample of adolescents who were followed into young adulthood. Predictors of drinking include: stressful life events, parental and peer social support, and parental and peer relationship problems. Findings indicate significant effects of stressful life events and parental support and conflict on both the frequency and intensity of alcohol use. Although age-related changes in these variables coincide with changes in drinking behavior, they do not account for drinking variability over this period. Results from conditional models demonstrate that the impact of the stress is contingent on age, and that the strong associations between drinking and stress evidenced during the high school years weaken considerably as individuals move into their late teens and early twenties. Discussion centers on the complex motivations for and facilitators of drinking as young people mature and change environments over the adolescent years.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Life stress, anger and anxiety, and delinquency: an empirical test of general strain theory.

General strain theory (Agnew 1992) departs from traditional strain theories by emphasizing the role of the individual's affective responses to negative life experiences in fostering deviant behavior. In this analysis, we examine the central hypotheses of general strain theory using data from a three-wave panel study of high school youths in the Boston metropolitan area (N = 939). Covariance structure models reveal that anger and hostility in response to negative life events do play a causal role in fostering more aggressive forms of delinquency, but are not significantly related to either nonaggressive delinquency or marijuana use. Furthermore, the conditional effects predicted by general strain theory, in which the impact of strain on delinquency varies by youths' personal and social resources, are inconsistent. Discussion centers on the prospect of increasing the utility of general strain theory by further imbuing it with concepts and perspectives from the sociology of mental illness.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

The co-occurrence of depression and substance abuse in late adolescence.

This article examines the role of adolescent social relationships in fostering the occurrence and co-occurrence of depression and substance abuse, using two waves of data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 900). Multinomial logistic response models were estimated to identify the extent to which risk and protective features of youths' family and peer relations were differentially linked with depressive symptoms, substance abuse, and their co-occurrence. Taking a within-person, configurational approach to adolescent adaptation, contrasts involved four subgroups of adolescents: those high on both depressed mood and substance abuse, those who experience neither problem, those evidencing high levels of depressive symptoms only, and those high on substance abuse only. Risk for depressive symptoms was differentiated by its association with conflict and lack of support in the friendship domain. Substance abuse was associated with negative peer pressure, but these youth were otherwise little different from youths with no problems. Whereas co-occurrence of depression and substance use was associated with more difficulties in both the family and peer environments, the most distinctive risk was that of low family support. Discussion centers on the developmental antecedents of co-occurring problems and family relations during adolescence.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Reactions of adult and teenaged smokers to the Massachusetts tobacco tax.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed smokers' reactions to a 25 cents cigarette tax imposed in Massachusetts. METHODS: A statewide telephone survey of 1783 adult smokers and 216 teenaged smokers was conducted. RESULTS: Among adult smokers, 3.5% reported that they had stopped smoking, owing in part to the price increase; 35% had considered quitting and 19% had attempted to cut the cost of smoking by switching to cheaper brands or cutting down. Among teenagers, 21% had considered quitting and 26% had cut costs. Low-income smokers were more responsive to the price increase than more affluent smokers. CONCLUSIONS: A modest and temporary price increase promoted quitting among adult smokers and reduced cigarette consumption among low-income teenagers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Pathways linking parental divorce with adolescent depression.

This article examines the intervening pathways linking parental divorce with adolescent depression, using both cross-sectional and prospective data from a study of high school students in the Boston metropolitan area. Overall, findings reveal that parental divorce is linked with adolescent depression in two ways: (1) it is a source of numerous secondary problems and stresses that are causally related to depression, and (2) it alters youths' reactivity to these stresses, in some cases enhancing, but in other cases mitigating, their depressive effects. Analyses demonstrated the central role of economic hardship in linking family status with depression, with the strength of this indirect pathway partly attributable to the greater vulnerability of youths in single-parent families to financial stresses. In contrast, family conflict did not account for the distress of youths in single-parent families, largely because of their immunity to the effects of such conflict. Finally, prospective data failed to support the hypothesis that differences between youths in single-parent and intact families predate the divorce.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Protective processes in adolescence: matching stressors with social resources.

Working within the "matching theory" of social supports, this research focuses on depressed mood and examines how resilience to stress during adolescence is shaped by developmental constraints on the use of support for coping with problems in the family, peer, and personal arenas. The sample is 1,036 adolescents systematically drawn from 3 community high schools in the Boston area. Predictions center on the efficacy of peer and family supports, and two intraindividual protective factors: sense of mastery and sense of social integration. Findings indicate little evidence of cross-domain stress buffering (where family support buffers the effects of peer stress on mood, and vice versa), suggesting that family and peer domains are more distinct during this stage of development. Protective effects for friendship stresses are evidenced, but boys are more able than girls to marshal their personal and support resources in managing friendship problems. Discussion centers on matching theory and the role of development in shaping coping responses to stress.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1995

Comparing prospective and retrospective measures of treatment outcomes.

This study examines the correspondence between retrospective and prospective assessments of treatment outcomes among female patients treated for gynecologic symptoms (n = 800) and male patients having surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (n = 434). The overall health and symptom status of patients in both samples was assessed at enrollment and again 3 months after treatment; at the 3-month follow-up, patients also were asked to compare retrospectively their current health and how they were feeling with their condition before treatment. Findings indicate that prospective and retrospective measures of change do not yield the same results. Retrospective assessments consistently produce higher estimates of the benefits of treatment, although that pattern was clearer for overall health status than for measures of symptoms. Patients' posttreatment health and symptom status contributes as much to retrospective assessments of change as does prospectively measured change, although the retrospective assessments of female patients whose gynecologic symptoms were medically managed were more strongly related to prospective change than those of hysterectomy patients or prostate surgery patients. Overall, we conclude that these alternative measurement strategies yield divergent assessments of change, depending on the type of treatment a patient receives and, to some extent, what is being measured.

Aged↗

PubMed1995

A reconsideration of parental and peer influences on adolescent deviance.

The role of peers in fostering deviant behavior in adolescence is well-documented in the sociological literature, while support for parental influence or "control" theories of deviance is more equivocal. This paper examines the relative influences of parents and peers on adolescent delinquency and marijuana use, using data from a three-wave panel study of youths who were paired with a best friend (N = 435). Covariance structure models based upon polychoric correlations among study variables reveal that friends are indeed the primary source of influence on youths' behavior, but that estimates of influence are grossly overstated in analyses relying upon respondents' perceptions of their friends' behavior. Parental supervision and attachment are weakly related to subsequent delinquency and marijuana use, lending little support to control theories of deviance. Findings reveal that different processes account for the similarities among members of delinquent and drug-using peer groups. Although youths are socialized into delinquent behavior by peers, both selection and socialization influences play important roles in the formation of drug-using peer groups.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Depression and the social developmental context of adolescence.

This article examines the interrelations of personal and social factors in fostering longitudinal patterns of depressive symptoms, using 3 waves of data from high school students in the Boston area. Previously depressed and nondepressed youths differed markedly in their emotional responsiveness to family and friend relations. Chronically depressed youths were unresponsive to family problems, but were highly reactive to peer relations. Among previously asymptomatic youths, family relations exerted greater effects on depressed mood than relations with peers. Further analyses suggest a process through which chronic family turmoil shapes long-term mental health while also intensifying the distancing from family and investment in peer relationships that typically occurs in adolescence. Findings illustrate the importance of modeling transactions between personal and environmental factors in research on adolescent mental health and development.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Marital disruption and depression in a community sample.

The extent to which marital disruption causes poor mental health is not well characterized even after 20 years of research. This is due in large part to the fact that previous research has ignored the possibility of selection. The present analysis is based on a representative community sample and was designed to take a step toward correcting these problems and to explore a number of specifications overlooked in previous research. The aggregate results show that marital disruption is associated with an increase of approximately one-third of a standard deviation on a screening scale of depression over a three-year interval between waves of data collection. The effect is more pronounced among women than men and is confined to people other than those who are escaping marriages with serious long-term problems. No evidence is found that the depressogenic effect of marital disruption can be explained by increased financial pressures or other secondary changes in roles. However, increased emotional reactivity to these changes is shown to play a powerful role in promoting depression among the recently divorced. The implications and limitations of these results are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

Social structure, life stress and depressive symptoms in a high school-aged population.

Data from a randomly selected sample of 1,208 high school-aged adolescents were used to examine the means through which life stress is associated with depressive symptoms. Analyses focus on family structure, socioeconomic status, and gender as background risks which directly and indirectly influence symptoms, as well as vulnerability contexts that shape differential responsiveness to stressful experiences. Findings indicate (1) significant gender differences in aspects of stress exposure and in additive models of stress effects, but stresses and supports do not explain the significant gender difference in depressive symptoms; (2) girls in low education backgrounds have the highest levels of depressive symptoms; (3) there are no gender differences in vulnerability to stress; (4) children in single-parent families have higher symptom levels, effects explained by economic conditions and stress exposure--they are no more vulnerable than others to the depressing effects of these stresses; and (5) both boys and girls in low SES backgrounds are more vulnerable to a wide range of stresses and support deficits.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Supportive interactions, negative interactions, and depressed mood.

Research on the association between social relationships and emotional functioning has emphasized the health-promoting effects of social support. Yet there is reason to believe that the absence of negative social interactions may be more important for mental health than the presence of supportive interactions. In this investigation we clarify important characteristics concerning the source, the recipient, and the combined influence of support and negativity. Data are presented regarding supportive and negative interactions with spouse, relatives, and friends; regression analyses suggest that negative interactions are more predictive of depressed mood than supportive interactions (specifically with spouse and friends). We also document several specifications suggesting directions for future research on the special importance of interactions in intimate relationships and the synergistic effects of situations in which supportive and negative interactions both occur.

Adaptation, Psychological↗