Research
An update on our research, what’s being done about it, and next steps
What we have learned so far
And what’s being done about it
We learned a lot about North Carolina teens from the surveys taken in the early 2000s. Local Person, Moore, and Vance county students shared information about their friends, families, neighborhoods, relationships, mental health, and activities.
Teens go through a lot. This research helped us learn about the relationships between things like friends and drinking, families and dating, mental health and alcohol, and other things teens experience as they grow up. It also helped us understand how where you live affects how you grow up. Additionally, and maybe most importantly, this research helped us learn how to impact teens' behaviors through programs or additional support to help them live healthier lives. The research helped researchers publish papers with plans about how to help teens around the US with these issues–throughout this section, there are examples of programs that have been created to help teens, based on this and other research.
See a few examples below. A lot has been published, but below are a few descriptions of the work done on the factors that affect how teens grow up.
Mental Health
How friends affect mental health and substance use
In one study based on the survey you may have taken as a teen, researchers looked at things like who someone chooses as their friends and how much their friends influence them is related to how likely it is that someone will drink or smoke. They also looked at the role that experiencing depression might play. Teens who have depression are more susceptible to peer influence on drinking and smoking. Although depression doesn't affect whether a teen chooses to be friends with kids who drink or smoke, teens who are depressed will be more likely to take up drinking or smoking if they have friends who engaged in these behaviors.
We also learned that parents have a big impact on their children's choices about drinking alcohol. When parents have the tools and information they need to set clear family rules about alcohol, they can prepare their children to resist unhealthy messages about alcohol that they receive from peers or media.
Based on what researchers have learned about kids and alcohol, there have been several programs created.
The Mysteries, Max, and Me program shared alcohol prevention resources with parents through monthly sets of magazines: an educational magazine for parents and a fun parent-child activities magazine to make conversations about alcohol easier.
The BIPAS Alcohol program uses text messaging to share alcohol prevention information with parents of rising middle schoolers.
Substance Use
Why kids drink and use drugs, and how to prevent it
This research, so far, found that social relationships influence teen drug and alcohol use. For example, someone with higher social status, and closer connections to people who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to use them themselves. And, as students move from middle school to high school, the relationship between risky behaviors and substance use becomes complex, and is related to how kids are involved in their own social networks.
All this research so far shows that people’s social groups can shape how they use drugs and alcohol as a teen. However, what this influence looks like can change over time, especially during big life transitions like starting high school. If we understand the relationships between social factors, individual characteristics, and drug and alcohol use, this can help us to prevent and reduce teen drug and alcohol use.
Dating and Peer Violence
How to understand and help reduce dating violence
This research also helps us better understand teen dating violence, and how individual, peer, family, and neighborhood factors play a role.
Individual factors include social status and bullying–teens with higher social status, especially girls, were more likely to be victims of dating violence. And, individuals who bully others are more likely to commit dating violence.
Peer influence and peer support also play a role. Teens with friends who commit dating violence are more likely to do it themselves, while teens who have high quality friendships, and friends who are helpful, friendly, and caring can reduce the risk of dating violence.
On a family level, being around family violence makes it more likely that teens will do and be victims of teen dating violence. And, on the neighborhood level, living in poorer neighborhoods made it more likely that teens, especially girls, would experience dating violence.
Given all these different factors, approaches that try to reduce teen dating violence and help healthier relationships should take into account and work across many different areas.
Bullying
How bullying is connected to dating violence, and what to do about it
This research looked at the connection between being a bully, and later committing dating violence.
High school students who bullied other kids were more likely to engage in dating violence later. This was only true for bullies who didn't get bullied back by other kids: the high schoolers who had both had bullying happen to them, and bullied others, were not more likely to engage in dating violence later.
When kids have a hard time managing anger, that also seems to affect both dating violence and bullying perpetration.
Bullying is related to being more popular when the bully doesn't get bullied in return. Being bullied is related to being less popular, and people who are bullied tend to have more depression and anxiety symptoms.
And, the surveys showed us that students who drink alcohol heavily and (based on a followup survey two years later) bully classmates, are more likely to abuse people they are dating in the future.
Preventing bullying in schools is an important strategy to protect teens from dating violence in the future. Researchers on our team have helped develop programs to do just that
Members of our team have helped to create:
A new anti-bullying unit for Second Step, a school-based program that teaches students how to solve problems and deal with stressful situations.
Project DIAL, a new training that helps teachers to prevent and respond to bullying, especially against students with disabilities.
BullyDown, a new program that uses text message communication to help kids stop bullying in their schools.
The SOARS program, a new program that teaches students how to stop bullying in their schools. Students in the program can also use an app to report positive and negative experiences at school.
Outcomes of Violence/Victimization
How to reduce violence
This research has also helped us learn about what happens long term when someone is a victim of violence and aggression in their teens. Right away, mental and social things happen for teens who are victims of dating violence– they often have more internalized symptoms like negative behaviors directed towards themself, alcohol and cigarette use, and social isolation. The effects can also vary if they are female or male.
Further research shows that people who do various kinds of violent behavior are more likely to show lasting antisocial behavior and have legal consequences in adulthood. Participants in the study also often were from disadvantaged backgrounds, and had a hard time regulating themselves emotionally.
This shows that it’s important to address teen victim experiences and aggression early, so that there aren’t long-term bad effects. It may work best to try and change what puts people at risk, like emotional skills and social support, to reduce the likelihood of being a victim or committing violence.
The surveys have shown us that having support from friends and school is important for teens’ mental health. Researchers on our team have helped to improve and expand Sources of Strength, a program that trains both student leaders and school staff how to support kids who are struggling and connect them to help.
Citations of papers published:
Chang, L.-Y., Foshee, V. A., Reyes, H. L. M., Ennett, S. T., & Halpern, C. T. (2015). Direct and indirect effects of neighborhood characteristics on the perpetration of dating violence across adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(3), 727–744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0190-zFoshee, V. A., Reyes, H. L., Gottfredson, N. C.,
Gottfredson, N. C., McNaughton-Reyes, H. L., & Wu, J. (2022). Predictive Associations Between Adolescent Profiles of Violent and Nonviolent Deviant Behavior With Convictions in Adulthood. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(13–14), NP12207–NP12237. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260521997453
Hussong, A. M., Ennett, S. T., McNeish, D. M., Cole, V. T., Gottfredson, N. C., Rothenberg, W. A., & Faris, R. W. (2020). Social network isolation mediates associations between risky symptoms and substance use in the high school transition. Development and Psychopathology, 32(2), 615–630. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457941900049XReyes, H. L. M., Foshee, V. A., Tharp, A.
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FAQs
Get your questions answered on our FAQs page. Don’t see your question? You can always reach out to nclifestudy@unc.edu with questions.