In summary, observational preexperience had differential effects on the timing of subsequent contingency performance of infants (p. 693)." This research supports the potential for vicarious learning as a pre-emptor to juvenile delinquency when the family, academic, and social conditions are reflective of the elements that reflect a lack of structure, participation in community, poverty, and poor education systems that are not financed to provide the infrastructure in a child's early

Adolescent Substance Use Screening Instruments: 10-Year Critical Review of the Research Literature Over ten million teenagers in the United States admit in a national survey that they drink alcohol, although it is illegal under the age of 21 in all states. In some studies, nearly one-quarter of school-age children both smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol. Over four thousand adolescents every day try marijuana for the first time. The dangers of use,

The key years during which experimentation occurs - between 13 and 16. Kobus discusses influences that launch an adolescent's smoking habit from several perspectives. First, the "social learning theory": relationships that are "more intimate" and that are developed "earlier in the youth's experiences" and thought to be more important; and youths are more likely to "imitate the smoking habits" (or non-smoking habits) of those with whom they have the closes

2007). Further, if child care hours increased between three and 54 months (4 1/2) years, their vocabulary scores are lowered by the time they reach 5th grade (Belsky et al., 2007). This suggests that long-term child care use has important implications not only on children's socio-emotional functioning but on academic achievement as well. Knowing this, it becomes more evident that parents cannot overlook the importance of choosing high quality child

Youth Gangs: The Role of the Family in the Formation and Prevention of Youth Gangs The issue of youth gangs is one of the most serious concerns facing administrators in the UK today. Numerous factors have been identified as increasing the risk of one getting lured into gang activity. The most prominent of these factors include poverty and deprivation, poor performance in school, drug and substance abuse, and crime-prone surroundings. While

Birth Order and Juvenile Delinquency Psychologists have long studied the effects of birth order on a person's personality. Sigmund Freud, for example, believed that "the position of a child in the family order is a factor of extreme importance in determining the shape of his later life" (cited in Sulloway 1996: 468n). The rest of social sciences, however, have been slower to accept such a sociobiological approach, preferring instead to explain social