Jessor's problem behavior theory: Cross-national evidence from Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States

Alexander T. Vazsonyi, Pan Chen, Dusty D. Jenkins, Esra Burcu, Ginesa Torrente, Chuen Jim Sheu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Jessor (2008) has recently called attention to description versus explanation in cross-cultural and cross-national comparative scholarship on adolescent development, particularly, the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors. In the current study, we were interested in testing to what extent problem behavior theory replicated in samples of 10,310 adolescents from 8 distinct developmental contexts, including Asian, Eastern and Western European, North American, and Eurasian/Muslim cultures. Path analyses by country samples as well as follow-up multigroup analyses provided evidence of great similarities across cultures in the links among two protective factor domains (controls protection and support protection), three risk factor domains (models risk, opportunity risk, and vulnerability risk), and the problem behavior syndrome, operationalized by vandalism, general deviance, school misconduct, theft, and assault measures. This evidence adds to a growing body of scholarship that provides support for similarities in explanation, despite many observed differences in description.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1779-1791
Number of pages13
JournalDevelopmental Psychology
Volume46
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2010

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Context
  • Cross-cultural
  • Deviance/delinquency
  • Theory testing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Demography
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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