Original articleRole Modeling, Risk, and Resilience in California Adolescents
Section snippets
Methods
This study used the adolescent sample (N = 4,010) of the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS, 2003), a large population-based telephone survey of California households conducted every other year since 2001. The sample is representative of the state's population residing in households. In addition to adolescents (age, 12–17), CHIS 2003 interviewed one randomly selected adult (age, 18 years and older) in each participating household. In households with children (age, 0–11), a child was
Results
Fifty-nine percent of California adolescents indicated that they had a role model. Family member was the most commonly identified role model type, followed by athlete, entertainer, other, friend, and teacher (Table 2). Teens from lower income households (below 200% of the federal poverty level) were less likely to report a role model than their more affluent peers (53% vs. 64%). Although there were few notable gender and racial/ethnic differences in the presence (or lack) of a role model, there
Discussion
Using the CHIS 2003 adolescent sample, we found that approximately 60% of adolescents report the presence of a role model. Among teens with role models, family members were the most commonly reported type of role model, followed by athletes, entertainers, “others,” friends, and teachers. Logistic regression models suggested strong and relatively consistent outcomes associated with the presence and type of role model across a range of positive and negative health behaviors. Although there were a
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. E. Richard Brown, CHIS Principal Investigator, and Dr. Hongjian Yu, Director of Statistical Support, both at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research for their support and assistance with this study.
This study was supported by funding from (), and the (: SIP 16-04). The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
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