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Risky Sexual Behaviors, Alcohol
Use, and Drug Use: A Comparison of Eastern and Western European
Adolescents |
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The authors undertook
the current research to determine the extent to which cultural context
moderated developmental processes - "namely the patterns of association
between low self-control, family processes, and three indicators of
health-compromising behaviors (risky sexual behaviors, alcohol and drug
use)" - in adolescent samples: two from Eastern Europe and two from
Western Europe.
A school-based questionnaire was administered to 7,291 middle and late
adolescents in Hungary, Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Students were asked to rate measures of self-control, family processes
(closeness, support and monitoring), and health-compromising behaviors.
A series of set hierarchical regression analyses and follow-up z-tests
for comparisons of individual regression coefficients were conducted for
data analysis.
The findings
indicated low self-control was positively associated with all three
measures of health-compromising behaviors "in a largely invariant
fashion across countries." Differences were evident in developmental
processes, where low self-control was more weakly associated with risky
sexual behaviors in samples of both Eastern European countries as
compared with Western European counties, "thus providing some evidence
of idiosyncratic cultural norms." The researchers also found evidence
"of mostly direct effects by family processes on measures of
health-compromising behaviors. With two exceptions, no differences were
observed in these effects across the four samples."
"Low self-control explains variability in health-compromising behaviors,
especially in alcohol and drug use," the researchers concluded. "The
observed differences in the link between low self-control and risky
sexual behaviors may provide some evidence of distinct norms and values
among Eastern European youth in comparison with Western European
adolescents related to these behaviors." |
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