Replication of a Problem Behavior Model with American Indian, Hispanic, and Caucasian Youth

Abstract

The replicability of a model of family and peer influences on adolescent problem behavior was evaluated with samples of adolescent boys and girls from three ethnic groups: American Indians, Hispanics, and Caucasians. Participants were 1,450 seventh-grade students from 16 communities. The model included links between three aspects of family functioning (family conflict, positive family relations, and inadequate parental monitoring) and adolescents’ association with deviant peers. Those variables were hypothesized predictors of adolescents’ problem behavior (antisocial behavior, poor school performance, and frequency of substance use). The resulting cross-sectional model showed good consistency across the three ethnic groups for both genders, but some subgroup differences emerged in the magnitude of relations between monitoring and adolescents’ associations with deviant peers and between substance use and the problem behavior construct. With those qualifications, the model was applicable to Hispanic and Native American adolescents in the sample.