PURPOSE The current study tested the applicability of Jessor's problem behavior theory (PBT) in Ariel University. METHODS A structured, self-reported, anonymous questionnaire was administered to undergraduate students. The final study sample included 1,360 participants (882 females and 478 males, mean age 25, SD = 2.9, range = 17). RESULTS Findings indicated that the PBT was replicated in t...

Peer acceptance and friendships were examined as moderators in the link between family adversity and child externalizing behavioral problems. Data on family adversity (i.e., ecological disadvantage, violent marital conflict, and harsh discipline) and child temperament and social information processing were collected during home visits from 585 families with 5-year-old children. Children's peer ...

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of social preference and perceived acceptance as moderators of the relation between child temperament and externalizing behavior. Participants included 399 children evaluated at pre-kindergarten and kindergarten assessments. Pre-kindergarten children characterized by high temperamental Surgency/Extraversion were more likely to exhibit hyperactiv...

BACKGROUND Drug use remains an important public health concern in the United States, and understanding drug use among young adolescents is vital towards improving the health of the population. OBJECTIVE This study applied the Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) to lifetime drug use among a cross-sectional sample of Boy Scouts (N = 770). The PBT provides a conceptual framework for identifying risk a...

This study examined friendship quality as a possible moderator of risk factors in predicting peer victimization and bullying. Children (50 boys and 49 girls, ages 10 to 13 years) reported on the quality of their best friendship, as well as their bullying and victimization tendencies. Parents reported on their child's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, in addition to bullying and victimi...

Longitudinal growth patterns of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were examined in a community sample of 441 children across the ages of 2 to 5 using hierarchical linear modeling. Contextual risk was measured using five indicators (socioeconomic status, marital status, number of siblings, parent stress, parent psychopathology), and three levels of child resilience (biological, b...

BACKGROUND We determined the role of risk and protective factors on the trajectories of behavior problems associated with high prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE)/polydrug exposure. METHODS The Maternal Lifestyle Study enrolled 1388 children with or without PCE, assessed through age 15 years. Because most women using cocaine during pregnancy also used other substances, we analyzed for the effects...

We examined the determinants of protective behavior against health, safety, and environmental risks. Subjects answered questions about the extent to which they engaged in each of several protective behaviors (PBs), the badness of the event that each behavior protects against, its probability, the effectiveness of the behavior, and its difficulty. We also assessed worry about the risk and effect...

We examined the determinants of protective behaviors (PBs) against health and property risks. Subjects answered questions about how much they engaged in each of several PBs (DoIt), the badness and probability of the event that each PB prevents, and the effectiveness and difficulty of the PB. We compared the expected utility for each PB from these judgments with the ratings of DoIt. Some of the ...

We conducted a cross-sectional, household survey in Oakville, Ontario, where an outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV) in 2002 led to an unprecedented number of cases of meningitis and encephalitis. Practicing > or =2 personal protective behavior traits reduced the risk for WNV infection by half.