This project's goals are to describe the psychosocial context of adolescent sexual and nonsexual risk-taking and problem behaviors and to explore the long-term effects of ear on families. Our most recent study, using data from a large nationally representative survey of youth and their children, assessed the effects of maternal age on children's cognitive development. The effect of maternal age were negligible after controlling for maternal intelligence, sociodemographic status, and the quality of the home environment. After controlling for these variables, however, maternal age was a significant predictor of cognitive development in blacks. Recently, staff have begun to focus more on the causes, correlates, and consequences of adolescent risk taking and problem behaviors. A conference of leading researchers was convened in order to survey the current state-of-the-art, to integregate diverse perspectives, and to identify new opportunities for research. Finally, data were obtained from a survey of the family, peer, psychological, and social correlates of sexual and nonsexual problems and attitudes about AIDS among almost 900 youth. Data reduction and preliminary analyses are underway.
