Individual, Family, and Community Factors Modifying Male Adolescents' Risk Behavior 'Trajectory'

Joseph H. Pleck, Freya L. Sonenstein, Leighton Ku, Lynn C. Burbridge

This study focuses on three domains of risk behaviors: sexual behavior, substance use, and difficulties with social institutions (education, employment, and law). The specific outcomes investigated included risky sexual behavior, illicit drug use, alcohol use, education failure, social disconnection, and delinquency. The factors investigated here as potentially influencing change in male adolescents' risk behaviors were categorized as individual, family, or community variables. The study extends knowledge about the effects of community-level variables and attitudes toward masculinity on adolescent risk behaviors.

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