Adolescent Problem Behavior in China and the United States: A Cross-National Study of Psychosocial Protective Factors

An explanatory model of adolescent problem behavior (problem drinking, cigarette smoking, and general delinquency) based on protective and risk factors in the individual and in 4 social contexts (family, peer group, school, and neighborhood) is employed in school-based samples from the People’s Republic of China (N5 1,739) and the United States (N5 1,596). Despite lower prevalence of the problem behaviors in the Chinese sample, especially for girls, a substantial account of problem behavior is provided by the same protective and risk factors in both countries and for both genders. Protection is generally higher in the Chinese sample than in the U.S. sample, but in both samples protection also moderates the impact of risk. Despite mean differences in psychosocial protective and risk factors, as well as in problem behavior, in the 2 samples—differences that may reflect societal variation— the explanatory model has, to a large extent, cross-national generality.