https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7102-2878
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ABSTRACT
Background
Adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors can have profound impacts on their future health. Few studies have established a relationship between multiple social environmental factors and adolescent risk behaviors. We used structural equation modeling to examine the role of parental monitoring and environmental risks on adolescents’ behavioral intentions and risk behaviors.
Methods
Data were collected through the baseline survey of a national implementation project among 2205 Grade 6 students in 24 government schools in The Bahamas in 2019. Structural equation modeling examined relations among parental monitoring, environmental risk factors, behavioral intentions, and risk behaviors.
Results
Students had engaged in various delinquent, substance use, and sexual risks. In the structural equation model, parental monitoring demonstrated direct negative (protective) effects on behavioral intentions and risk behaviors, whereas environmental risk factors had a direct positive effect on adolescent behavioral intentions and risk behaviors. The model had an R2 value of 0.57 for adolescent risk behaviors.
Conclusion
Parental monitoring and environmental risk factors had strong influences on risk-taking behaviors of early adolescents. Future adolescent health behavior interventions should consider offering additional prevention resources to early adolescents who are exposed to multiple environmental risk factors.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank program staff at the Bahamas Ministries of Health and Education for their participation in field data collection and Drs. David Hoaglin and Bo Wang for their valuable inputs.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethical statement
The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research protocol was approved by the UMass Chan Medical School Institutional Review Board (reference number: H00014966) and the Institutional Review Board of the Bahamian Princess Margaret Hospital, Public Hospitals Authority. Parents provided formal written consent, and students provided written assent to participate in the study.