Keep Your Eye On

The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter July 2012

Keep your eye on

effects of parenting and peers on teen conduct problemsThe authors of a new study investigating how parenting behaviors and contact with

deviant peers impact conduct problems found strong but complex interactions between all

three. They collected data from a sample of 226 rural adolescents in grade seven through

nine (N=112 boys; N=107 girls; N=7 gender unknown), their parents, and teachers. From

seventh to eighth grade, results showed that effective parenting by mothers and fathers

buffered the effect of higher levels of peer deviance on conduct problems across the entire

[sample. From eighth to ninth grade (i.e., transition into high school), fathers effective

parenting buffered the effects of deviant peer association on their daughters conduct prob-

lems, whereas both fathers and mothers influence was stronger for sons when deviant peer

associations were lower. Although varying by parent and adolescent gender or adolescent

age, results generally supported the protective effects of parenting on their childrens con-

duct problems during early to mid-adolescence. [Trudeau L, et al.: J Abnorm Child Psychol

2012 May 31; Epub ahead of print.]

marijuana use and gender predict poorer cognitive functioning in teensA new study has found that marijuana use is linked to poorer cognitive functioning in

older adolescents, and that the effects are more pronounced in boys and are dose-depen-

dent. Researchers collected data from 58 older teens and emerging adults: marijuana users

(N=23, 56% female) and controls (N=35, 50% female). After controlling for reading ability,

gender, subclinical depressive symptoms, body mass index, and alcohol and other drug

use, results showed that increased marijuana use was linked to slower psychomotor speed/

sequencing ability (p

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