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Negative Adult Influences and the Protective Effects of Role Models: A Study with Urban Adolescents

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Abstract

We investigated whether role models (individuals adolescents look up to) contributed to the resilience of adolescents who were exposed to negative nonparental adult influences. Our sample included 659 African American, ninth-grade adolescents. We found that adolescents’ exposure to negative adult behavior was associated with increased externalizing, internalizing, and substance using behaviors, as well as more negative school attitudes and behavior. We found that role models had protective effects on externalizing and internalizing behaviors and compensatory effects on school outcomes. Collectively, our findings indicate that role models can contribute to the resilience of African American adolescents who are exposed to negative nonparental adult behavior.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the youth for participating in this study and the Flint Community Schools for their support. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Noelle M. Hurd

  2. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Noelle M. Hurd & Marc A. Zimmerman

  3. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA

    Yange Xue

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  1. Noelle M. Hurd
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  2. Marc A. Zimmerman
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Correspondence to Noelle M. Hurd.

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Hurd, N.M., Zimmerman, M.A. & Xue, Y. Negative Adult Influences and the Protective Effects of Role Models: A Study with Urban Adolescents. J Youth Adolescence 38, 777–789 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9296-5

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