Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Relationships of Social Context and Identity to Problem Behavior among High-Risk Hispanic Adolescents
Seth J Schwartz1, Craig A Mason, Hilda Pantin
1Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.
Abstract:
The present study was designed to examine the extent to which (a) family and school functioning and (b) personal and ethnic identity is associated with conduct problems, drug use, and sexual risk taking in a sample of 227 high-risk Hispanic adolescents. Adolescents participated in the study with their primary parents, who were mostly mothers. Adolescents completed measures of family and school functioning, personal and ethnic identity, conduct problems, and drug use. Parents completed measures of family functioning and adolescent conduct problems. Results indicated that school functioning and personal identity confusion were related to alcohol use, illicit drug use, and sexual risk taking indirectly through adolescent reports of conduct problems. Adolescent reports of family functioning were related to alcohol use, illicit drug use, and sexual risk taking through school functioning and conduct problems. Results are discussed in terms of the problem behavior syndrome and in terms of the finding of relative independence of contextual and identity variables vis-à-vis conduct problems, substance use, and sexual risk taking.
Related Concept Videos
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Conduct Disorder
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth. This guiding role...
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Impact of Social Context on Individuals
Erikson's Theory on Socioemotional Development during Adolescence
