What we have learned so far

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 how where you live affects how you grow up, and, maybe most importantly, how to impact teens' behaviors and potentially help them live healthier lives. The research helped researchers publish papers making hypotheses and plans about how to help teens around the US with these issues.

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 being depressed might play. They found that depression didn’t have an impact on the relationship between friend selection and drinking or smoking, but that depression might affect drinking or smoking depending on how people are connected to their friends.

Citation (1)

Substance Use

Why kids drink and use drugs, and how to prevent it

Findings highlight the significant influence of social networks on adolescent substance use. Ennett et al. emphasizes the importance of social status (i.e., how popular someone is) and proximity (i.e., closeness to individuals within their peer network) to substance-using peers, demonstrating that individuals with higher social status and closer connections to substance-using peers are more likely to engage in substance use.

Hussong et al. expands on this by examining the role of social integration (i.e., degree to which an individual is involved in their social network) and deviant behavior (i.e., behaviors that violate social norms), revealing that while social integration and high status can increase substance use before high school transitions, they can decrease after the transition, alongside increased depressive symptoms and deviant behavior.

Both studies converge on the idea that social networks play a pivotal role in shaping adolescent substance use behaviors. However, the nature of this influence can shift over time, particularly during major life transitions like high school entry. Understanding these dynamic relationships between social factors, individual characteristics, and substance use can inform interventions aimed at preventing and reducing adolescent substance abuse.

Citations (2,3)

Dating and Peer Violence:

How to understand and help reduce dating violence

This research also helps us 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 all these different factors.

Citation (4-9)

Outcomes of Violence/Victimization:

How to reduce violence

We have also learned about what happens long term when someone is a victim of violence and aggression in their teens. Right away, there are mental and social outcomes for teens who are victims of dating violence– they often experience more internalized symptoms like negative behaviors directed towards oneself, alcohol and cigarette use, and social isolation. The effects can also vary based on gender.

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.

Citations (10, 11)