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The Influence of Environment
The workshop discussions of biobehavioral and psychological perspectives on adolescent risk behavior alluded repeatedly to the importance of the cultural and social contexts in which young people develop. Presenters described research on the ways family, peers, schools, communities, and media and technology influence adolescent behavior and risk-taking.
FAMILY
There are strong reasons to think that families, and their economic circumstances in particular, influence both parents’ and children’s emotions and behaviors, Rand D. Conger explained. He described some of the evidence for these effects, the specific processes involved, and some of the implications for intervention. Nancy A. Gonzales described the relationship between family influences and particular risk behaviors, as well as interventions that have been developed to alter these influences.
Effects of Economic Distress
The social causation model, Conger explained, provides a framework for considering the way in which economic disadvantage and social conditions affect family functioning and the ways that children develop.
Recent studies have provided evidence that economic factors influence families. Costello and colleagues (2003), for example, found that chil-
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Suggested Citation:"5 The Influence of Environment." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2011. The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12961.×
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dren whose families were lifted out of poverty when a gambling casino opened on an Indian reservation showed improvement in both psychiatric symptoms and conduct problems. Specifically, this study found that externalizing signs, including such behavior disorders as conduct disorder, improved, but that families’ improved economic circumstances did not affect the rate of internalizing psychiatric problems, such as depression. The researchers concluded that the improvements came about in part because of improved parenting practices. Experimental studies, such as the New Hope study (Huston et al., 2003), have also shown that interventions that increased employment and reduced poverty resulted in similar improvements.
Researchers have described three primary models for thinking about how economic factors influence families: the family stress model, the investment model, and the interactionist model. Research on the family stress model goes back to the 1930s, Conger said, and has since been well replicated using many samples from diverse backgrounds. It is based on evidence from both human and animal studies that punishing experiences, such as economic pressure,1 exacerbate negative affect, which can take many forms, such as despondency, depression, anger, or aggression (Berkowitz, 1969). These sorts of emotions can disrupt family relationships. The effect of the hardship depends on the way it affects daily life—in other words, the emotional response of the family and the individual are what determines the psychological effect of the event. When parents become depressed, angry, and sullen with one another and have increased conflict, the result is often harsh and inconsistent parenting or withdrawal. For adolescents, that can mean increases in risky behavior and less development of the sorts of competencies that protect them from those risks. Conger observed that other sorts of distress may also affect families in the same way. That is, when stress and challenge are high for parents, they generally have an increase in emotional and behavioral problems, which in turn affect family functioning and increase risks for children.
The model, which is consistent with findings from numerous studies (Conger et al., 2010; Conger and Conger, 2008; Conger and Donnellan, 2007), is illustrated in Figure 5-1. Some interventions based on this model have focused on improving families’ economic circumstances. However, although the downward spiral can occur very quickly, such interven-
1
Conger noted that family income is not a reliable measure of hardship because even families with high incomes may face severe economic challenges, for example, if a medical calamity occurs in a family with inadequate health insurance. Thus, researchers consider other factors, such as negative financial events, sudden economic demands, or sudden changes in income.
Page 60
Suggested Citation:"5 The Influence of Environment." Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. 2011. The Science of Adolescent Risk-Taking: Workshop Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12961.×
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tions work much more slowly. Thus, in Conger’s view, interventions that reduce the harm during the economic transition are also needed. Promising targets include:
Reducing parental distress,
Reducing parental conflict and relationship difficulties,
