Essay Quiz


1			The textbook distinguishes between adolescent-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior in adolescents. Use what you know about these concepts to describe the characteristics of each type of delinquent profile, and compare the differences in family background and personal factors that are typical of each kind. Have treatment programs been successful in either case? Why or why not?




2			Cigarettes, containing the highly addictive drug nicotine, are the only substance used by a sizeable number of adolescents on a daily basis (about 10 percent smoke daily while alcohol is used daily by about 2 percent of seniors and marijuana by about 7 percent). However, about 20 percent of all seniors and 6 percent of all eighth-graders report having engaged in binge drinking at least once during the past two weeks. Given that relatively few adolescents, by comparison, are using and/or experimenting with other drugs, on which substances should the emphasis be placed in programs designed to discourage drug abuse? In your opinion, what does the government's "war on drugs" seem to really be addressing? What advice could you give policy makers about how teens are influenced by media?




3			You are on the board of a foundation that sponsors programs to prevent adolescent drug and alcohol abuse. You have limited funds and you need to develop a set of criteria to evaluate program proposals that come to your foundation. What would you look for in a proposal to help you decide which type of programs you would fund? What would constitute an effective prevention program? What do you know, from research and the textbook, about prevention strategies that would influence your funding decision?




4			You are a middle school counselor. A 13-year-old is caught smoking marijuana on school property and is sent to you for evaluation. What do you want to know about this youngster to determine the extent of his drug problem? What can you say about his future, in terms of substance abuse and delinquent behavior, if anything? Use research to support your argument.




5			Experts argue that in order to lower the rate of chronic antisocial behavior, disruption in early family relationships must be prevented. In addition, they recommend that early academic problems should be avoided. Recognizing that this is easier said than done, experts acknowledge that it is difficult to gain support for intervening in family affairs "before" the occurrence of a significant adverse event, such as hostile behavior, abuse, and neglect. By contrast, waiting until a significant adverse event occurs, or, more specifically, waiting until one occurs that is "reported," may in fact be too late for an intervention to have a positive impact. What recommendations can be made regarding the prevention of externalizing problems when the of constraints on available actions seem so insurmountable? Should available resources for this kind of program be targeted at a specific group of children or adolescents? Draw on what you know about early interventions and the differences between life-course persistent and adolescence-limited offending to answer these questions.




6			Based on what you know about the etiology of substance abuse, internalizing disorders, and externalizing disorders, describe how the diathesis-stress model can explain why most adolescents do not have serious psychosocial problems.




7			Discuss the different conclusions you might draw from using official arrest data or self-report of offending data. How does the source of data affect your conclusions? How does the data source specifically affect conclusions about minority and female youth? Be sure to include a discussion of the relative arrest rates and historical trends.

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