Family communication and religiosity related to substance use and
sexual behavior in early adolescence: A test for pathways through self-control
and prototype perceptions
Thomas Ashby Wills, Frederick X. Gibbons, Meg Gerrard, Velma
McBride Murry, Gene H. Brody
(2003) Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 17(4), 312-323.
This research tested predictions about pathways to substance use
and sexual behavior with a community sample of 297 African American adolescents
(M age: 13.0 years). Structural
modeling indicated that parent-adolescent communication had a path to
unfavorable prototypes of substance users; quality of parent-adolescent
relationship had paths to good self-control, higher resistance efficacy, and
unfavorable prototypes of sexually active teens; and religiosity had inverse
direct effects to both substance use and sexual behavior. Self-control constructs had paths to
prototypes of abstainers, whereas risk taking had paths to prototypes of drug
and sex engagers and direct effects to outcomes. Prototypes had paths to outcomes primarily through resistance
efficacy and peer affiliations. Effects
were also found for gender, parental education, and temperament
characteristics. Implications for
self-control theory and prevention research are discussed.