Abstract
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 (N = 1739) and the United States (N = 1596). 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.
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Jessor, R., Turbin, M. S., Costa, F. M., Dong, Q., Zhang, H., & Wang, C. (2003). Adolescent problem behavior in China and the United States: A cross-national study of psychosocial protective factors. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(3), 329–360.
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Notes
- 1.
To address a possible problem of nonindependence of observations on the criterion measure within schools, we computed the intraclass correlation, which is negligible: .03 in the U.S. sample and .02 in the Chinese sample. Hence, the students’ responses can be treated as independent observations.
- 2.
There is essentially no ethnic variation in the Chinese sample, but we examined ethnic variation in the U.S. sample and found it virtually uncorrelated with problem behavior involvement. No measure of ethnicity would have been significant in the regression analyses; therefore, it was omitted.
- 3.
The order of entry of the protective factors and risk factors is, of course, arbitrary in testing the explanatory model. We have chosen to enter protection before risk to draw attention to protection in contrast to the more general preoccupation with risk. By reversing the order of entry in an additional hierarchical regression, it is possible to establish the unique variance contributed by each.
- 4.
To determine whether the coefficient for each gender is significantly different from zero, each significant regression weight for a gender interaction at Step 5 in Table 3 (e.g., for Gender × Controls Protection: 1.62 for the U.S. sample, .86 for the Chinese sample) was added to (for girls) or subtracted from (for boys) the tabled coefficient for the relevant predictor (for controls prediction: — 6.25 for the U.S. sample, — 3.64 for the Chinese sample) to yield the coefficient representing the effect within each gender. Dividing that coefficient by its standard error gives a t statistic for testing its significance for that gender.
- 5.
A broader criterion measure of multiple problem behavior involvement that includes two more components—marijuana use and sexual activity—is available in the U.S. data. In supplementary analyses of the U.S. sample data, using the broader criterion measure, the same protective and risk factors, along with their interaction effects, account for an even greater amount—51 %—of variance.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by Grant 99202099 from the William T. Grant Foundation. We are grateful to the officials of the school districts involved for their support and cooperation, and especially to Gene Jacquez for his extensive contributions. We are also indebted to Guang Guo for reviewing the questionnaire translation; to Charles M. Judd, Gary H. McClelland, and Jani Little for consultation on data analysis; and to Carissa Low for exceptionally competent assistance in many aspects of the research.
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Jessor, R., Turbin, M.S., Costa, F.M., Dong, Q., Zhang, H., Wang, C. (2016). The Cross-National Generality of Problem Behavior Theory. In: The Origins and Development of Problem Behavior Theory. Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40886-6_10
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