Transition from Middle to Late Adolescence - Research Paper Example

Longitudinal Relations among Negative Affect, Substance Use, and Peer Deviance during the Transition from Middle to Late Adolescence Grade course Tutor’s Name 10th April, 2012 Longitudinal Relations among Negative Affect, Substance Use, and Peer Deviance during the Transition from Middle to Late Adolescence Summary The natural stage of adolescence comes in with many challenges for the young people. The transition from middle to late adolescence is most vulnerable and challenging for the young people, as they have to shape their future from childhood to adulthood. Peer pressure, negative affect and substance use play a great deal to determine the activities and social actions undertaken by the teens. During mid and late adolescents the teenagers are faced by multitude of problems, and this is the stage where, we find the teenagers experimenting with deviant behaviors like delinquency, crime and substance use. This is the stage where most teenagers suffer with their weight as they want to look like their friends, or a public figure, which they emulate. The transition from middle to late adolescence brings in many challenges and complexities that increase the risks for behavioral, emotional and social problems. This article looks at the relationship of adolescent substance use, negative affects and peer deviance. The social actions carried out by the teenagers affect their social relations with others both negatively and positively. The likely hood of a social action initiated during the mid adolescence to continue in late adolescence depends with the motivation and the consequences of the action. Research question The research question was. -Is there relationship between negative effects, substance use, and peer deviance during the transitional stage from middle adolescence to late adolescence in United States? Literature review Evidence shows that there is longitudinal interrelationship between adolescence negative effects, substance use and peer deviance, although the exact nature of this relationship is not clear. During the transition from the middle to late adolescence, most teens experience mobility and freedom, as they move from their families preparing for educational, interpersonal and vocational requirements of early adulthood (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 2). In this stage, teens are affected by many complex situations, which are, behavioral and emotional, and these lead to negative effects like hopelessness and depression, which increase rapidly throughout out the teenage years. These negative effects are more common in girls as compared to the boys. Substance use sets in during middle adolescence, and rapidly increases during late adolescence, with cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking being the chief forms of substance abuse. Research done has shown that the rising influence of substance abuse on peers contributes to the behavioral and emotional problems that the teens face in late adolescence. Substances are used to alleviate symptoms of dysphoria, according to self medication hypothesis, thus expecting positive outcome from the negative effects. Research shows that negative effects in the middle adolescence encourage an increased use of substance in late adolescence. A causal factor, however, can go in the opposite direction, that is, substance use to negative effect, according to the impaired functioning hypothesis (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 3). Pharmacological effects of nicotine and alcohol are known to alter the brain reward system, and together with the drug experience, increase the occurrence of negative effects. Substance use also interferes with the complete developmental tasks associated with functions in family, school and peer contexts, hence increasing the negative effects. The impaired functioning hypothesis argues that use of substance in middle adolescence automatically increases in late adolescence. The conformity hypothesis suggests that peer deviance is promoted by negative effect, because negative effect can bring difficulties in developing and maintaining relationships, which are positive, with conventional peers (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 3). Teenagers who have emotional problems and who struggle with them, loose out in pro-social socialization, hence, they tend to associate themselves with deviant peers. Peer deviance, on the other hand, is likely to increase substance use among the adolescence mostly through socialization, adoption of the behavior, and hence, reinforcement through peer interactions. Peer deviance is also a factor in increasing negative effects through cumulative continuity of disadvantage. Negative social and personal consequences of a lifestyle which is deviant accumulate with time, limiting future chances for healthy development. Inability to succeed in conventional activities, in turn, leads to negative effects. Adolescence substance use encourages peer deviance with time, according to the peer selection hypothesis (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 4). Teens often choose to spend time with like minded people, that is, those who engage and promote deviant behavior. These hypotheses represent important initial stages in understanding and defining the processes involved in the development of negative effects, substance use and peer deviance among the teenagers. Hypothesis tested Self medication hypothesis. Conformity hypothesis. Impaired functioning hypothesis. Peer selection hypothesis. Independent and dependent variables The independent variable used in this study is; The adolescence stage. Gender. Age. The dependent variables used are; The negative effects. Peer deviance. Substance use. Research methods The research method employed was sampling, to derive the data from project family, a study of sixth graders and their families were done. Some of the sixth graders took part in short substance use-prevention interventions (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 4). 883 families with children in sixth grade in united States Midwest rural communities were invited to participate in the study, by the end of 1993. This study saw 49%, equivalent to 429, completing the baseline assessment. 52% of the target children, (222), were girls, and more than 95% participants were whites. The initial age studied was 11 years, and the study used age 16 and 18 to assess substance use, negative effects and peer development, to determine the developmental transition from middle adolescence to late adolescence. Before data collection, the participants were informed that they were free to withdraw from the research. Written questionnaires were filled out in 60- 80 minutes, and information on parent- child interactions, family demographics, finances, parenting practices, information regarding child and parent involvement in crime/ delinquency and substance use, parent work experiences and child school experiences was required. Informed consent was got from adolescents, and confidentiality was espoused (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 7). The human subjects review committee approved the study procedures, at the Iowa State and the University of Washington. Results The study found out that there is no direct interrelation between substance use, negative effect and peer deviance. The study found out that the negative effect in age 16 predicted substance use at age 18, showing that some teens are likely to turn to substance use in order to cope with the symptoms of negative effects. Substance use at the age of 16 was unrelated to negative effects at age 18, meaning that, early substance use does not influence later year’s negative effects, a finding that contradicts with the impaired functioning hypothesis. There is little evidence connecting substance use with peer selection and socialization (Mason, Hitch and Spoth 12). The research question was reached by looking at the covariate estimated effects on the primary variables in the study. Increased likely hood of substance use during the transition period from middle to late adolescence is driven by proximal factors like negative effects in middle adolescence, than early substance use distal indicators. From the study, it is clear than there is relationship between substance use, negative effects and peer deviance, but the state of the relationship is not direct or clear. Evaluation This is an excellent study, since it uses the theory guided approach and longitudinal designs. This research was effective as it compared its findings with the findings of the other researches done in a bid to come up with the best findings. This study is convincing since it tests the hypotheses given by other studies, and I like it because it does not treat its findings as the truth, but instead compares it with other research findings and recommends further research. Work Cited Mason, Alex, Julia, Hitch and Richard Spoth. “Longitudinal relations among negative affect, substance use, and peer deviance during the transition from middle to late adolescence.” Substance use and misuse, 44 (2009): 1142-1159. Print. Read More