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Biomedical subjects

R Jessor

Publications and source records attributed to R Jessor.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Adolescent health behavior and conventionality-unconventionality: an extension of problem-behavior theory.

Examined the relation of psychosocial and behavioral conventionality-unconventionality to health-related behavior in cross-sectional data from 1,588 male and female 7th to 12th graders. Conventionality-unconventionality was represented by personality, perceived social environment, and behavior variables selected from the social-psychological framework of problem-behavior theory (R. Jessor & S. L. Jessor, 1977). Greater psychosocial conventionality correlates with more regular involvement in health-related behavior (regular physical activity, adequate sleep, safety belt use, attention to healthy diet). Greater behavioral conventionality (less involvement in problem behaviors such as marijuana use, problem drinking, delinquent-type behavior, and greater involvement in conventional behaviors such as church attendance) was also associated with greater involvement in health-maintaining behavior. The overall findings provide support for the extension of problem-behavior theory to the domain of adolescent health behavior and for the relevance of the dimension of conventionality-unconventionality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

The concept of health promotion and the prevention of adolescent drug abuse.

A three-dimensional conceptual model for health promotion interventions to prevent adolescent drug abuse is elaborated. The model is based on an analysis of the concept of health into four domains--physical, psychological, social, and personal; an analysis of intervention approaches to change behavior into two major strategies--introducing/strengthening health-enhancing behavior, and weakening/eliminating health-compromising behavior; and an analysis of the foci of interventions into three levels--environmental, personality, and behavior. Components of a specific health promotion program, the Minnesota Heart Health Program, that are designed to prevent adolescent drug abuse are described. These include health behavior campaigns, educational interventions, and community organization. The theoretical content of the components is shown to be linked logically to the health promotion model.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Problem drinking and the dimension of involvement with drugs: a Guttman scalogram analysis of adolescent drug use.

Analyses of data from two nationwide surveys of high school students, one carried out in 1974 and the other in 1978, suggest that problem drinking may be seen as yet another step along an underlying dimension of involvement with both licit and illicit drugs. The dimension of involvement with drugs consists of the following levels: nonuse of alcohol or illicit drugs; nonproblem use of alcohol; marijuana use; problem drinking; use of pills (amphetamines, barbiturates, hallucinogenic drugs); and the use of "hard drugs" such as cocaine or heroin. The dimension possesses excellent Guttman-scale properties in both national samples as well as in subsamples differing in gender and ethnic background. The ordering of the levels of involvement was confirmed by the ordering of the alcohol-drug involvement groups based on their mean scores on measures of psychosocial proneness for involvement in problem behavior. The excessive use of a licit drug, i.e., problem drinking, appears to indicate greater involvement in drug use than does the use of an illicit drug, marijuana. This finding points to the importance of distinguishing between use and problem use of drugs in efforts to understand adolescent drug involvement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Adolescent development and the onset of drinking. A longitudinal study.

Junior and senior high-school students were studied over a 4-year period. The likelihood of drinking was directly related to the degree of transition- or problem-proneness, and a developmental relationship between onset of drinking and other socipsychological attributes was found. It is concluded that becoming a drinker is an integral aspect of the process of adolscent development.

Achievement↗