Flint Adolescent Study

Project Dates: 2007-2012

Principal Investigator: Marc Zimmerman, UM-SPH
Project Director: Jose A. Bauermeister, UM- SPH
Contact: Emily Pingel, MPH, espingle@umich.edu

Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Description:
The Flint Adolescent Study (FAS) is an ongoing interview study beginning with 850 ninth graders conducted in collaboration with Flint Community Schools. In order to study those students most at risk for leaving school before graduation, individuals with grade point averages of 3.0 and below were selected. The original goal of the study was to explore the protective factors associated with school dropout and alcohol and substance use. Students were sampled from the four main public high schools in Flint, Michigan. The study followed youth across their four high school years. We obtained a 90% response rate from Year 1 to Year 4.  The Year 1 sample includes 679 African-American youth (80%), 145 white youth (17%) and 26 mixed African-American and white youth (3%). We had an even distribution between males and females. The sample reflected the overall student body in the Flint High Schools in the Fall of 1994.

A year after participants were expected to have completed high school, we continued to follow the original sample for another four years as they transitioned from adolescence into young adulthood (Year 5 to Year 8).  The goal of the follow-up study was to examine the effects of adolescent alcohol and drug use on marriage and family formation, educational achievement, employment, and other health-related indicators such as psychological well-being and community involvement.  We obtained a 68% response rate over all eight years. 

In 2007, we were funded to collect data for another four years (Years 9 through 12).  Now in their mid-twenties, we are applying a socioecological life span model to the study of drug and alcohol abuse and dependence as study participants experience the middle adult transition period.  We are studying risk and promotive factors associated with drug abuse and dependence with a focus on life-stress, positive and negative influences from others, social capital and integration, and coping strategies. We measure social factors such as support from family and friends, behavioral influences from others, participation in voluntary organizations; individual level factors such as anxiety, depression, self-worth, ethnic identity, and anti-social behavior; and adult transitional factors such as marriage and family relationships; child bearing including parenting; employment issues (type of job, job qualities, and history).  We are also studying neighborhood contextual influences by linking our data to Census tract information and other secondary data sources.

Information obtained from youth across the Years includes:

• participation in church, school and community organizations
• social support and influence of family and friends (including mentoring)
• self-esteem, stress and psychological well being
• delinquent and violent behaviors; alcohol and substance abuse
• sex behaviors and child bearing
• school attitudes and performance
• family structure and relationships
• driving behavior (beginning in Years 3 & 4)
• racial identity (beginning in Year 3)
• marriage, parenting, and post-secondary education (beginning in Year 5)

Publications:

Hurd, N. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (In Press). Natural mentors and health outcomes: A longitudinal analysis of African American adolescents transitioning into adulthood. American Journal of Community Psychology.

Hurd, N. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (In Press). Natural mentoring relationships among adolescent mothers: A study of resilience. Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Xue Y, Zimmerman MA, & Caldwell, C. (In press).  Longitudinal study of the relationship between alcohol use and violent behavior among urban African-American youths from adolescence to emerging adulthood. American Journal of Public Health.

Xue Y, Zimmerman MA, & Barnett T. (In press).  Parental support and the longitudinal relationships between exposure to community violence and violent behavior among African American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence. 

Bauermeister, J.A., Zimmerman, M., Caldwell, C, Xue, Y., & Gee, G.  (2009). What predicts sex partner age differences among African American youth? A longitudinal study from adolescence to young adulthood.  Journal of Sex Research, 10:1-15. PMID: 19517294 [View Abstract]

Bauermeister, J.A.., Zimmerman, M.A., Gee, G.C., Caldwell, C. & Xue, Y. (2009). Work and Sexual Trajectories Among African American Youth. Journal of Sex Research, 46(1): 1-11. PMID: 19137477 [View Abstract]

Hurd, NM, Zimmerman, MA, & Xue, Y. (2009). Negative adult influences and the protective effects of role models: A study with urban adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(6), 777-789. PMID: 19636780 [View Abstract]

Bauermeister, J. A., Zimmerman, M., Xue, Y., Gee, G. C., & Caldwell, C. H. (2008). Working, sex partner age differences, and sexual behavior among African American youth. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9376-3. PMID: 18574686 [View Abstract]

Repetto PB, Zimmerman MA, & Caldwell CH. (2008). A longitudinal study of depressive symptoms and marijuana use in a sample of inner-city African Americans. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18(3), 421-447.

Bauermeister JA, Zimmerman MA, Barnett TE, & Caldwell CH. (2007). Working in high school and adaptation in the transition to young adulthood among African American youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 877-90.

Fergus, S., Zimmerman, MA, & Caldwell, CH. (2007). Growth trajectories of sexual risk behavior in adolescence and young adulthood. American Journal of Public Health, 97(6), 1096-1101.PMID: 17463379 [View Abstract]

Xue Y, Zimmerman MA, & Caldwell CH. (2007). Neighborhood residence and cigarette smoking among urban youths: The protective role of prosocial activities. American Journal of Public Health, 97(10):1865-72. [PMID: 17761584]

Fergus, S., Zimmerman, M.A., & Caldwell, C.H. (2005). Psychosocial correlates of smoking trajectories among urban, African American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20(4), 423-452.

Caldwell, C.H., Kohn-Wood, L.P., Schmeelk-Cone, K.H., Chavous, T.M., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2004). Racial discrimination and racial identity as risk or protective factors for violent behaviors in African American young adults. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33, 91-105.

Caldwell, C.H., Sellers, R.M., Bernat, D.H., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2004). Racial identity, parental support and alcohol use in a sample of academically at-risk African American high school students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34(1-2), 71-82.

Repetto, P.B., Zimmerman, M.A., Caldwell, C.H. (2004). A longitudinal study of the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol use in a sample of inner-city black youth. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65, 169-178.

Repetto, P.B., Caldwell, C.H., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2004). Trajectories of depressive symptoms among high risk African-American adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health 35(6), 468-477.

Edited Books and Book Chapters

Zimmerman, M.A. & Brenner, A.B. (in press). Resilience in Adolescence: Overcoming neighborhood disadvantage. In Reich, J.W., Zautra, A.J. & Hall, J.S. (Eds.). Handbook of Adult Resilience: Concepts, Methods, and Applications.  New York, NY, Guilford Press.

Zimmerman, M.A., Bingenheimer, J.B. & Behrendt, D.E. (2005). Natural mentoring relationships. In D.L. Dubois & M.J. Karcher (Eds.) Handbook of Youth Mentoring (pp. 143-157). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Posters and Presentations

Brenner, A., Zimmerman, M., & Caldwell, C. (2009, November). Neighborhood variation in alcohol use for African American and White youth. Oral presentation to be presented at the 2009 American Public Health Association Meeting.

Bauermeister, J.A., Zimmerman, M.A., & Caldwell, C. (2009, November). Condom use among urban youth across the high school years: The role of neighborhood characteristics.  Oral presentation to be presented at the 2009 American Public Health Association Meeting (November).

Hurd, N., Bauermeister, J., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2009, October). Predictors of Occupational Outcomes among African American Emerging Adults: An Analysis of Positive Influences. Poster to be presented at the 2009 Emerging Adulthood Conference.

Bauermeister, J.A., Zimmerman, M.A., & Caldwell, C. (2009, August). Condom use among urban youth across the high school years: The role of neighborhood characteristics.  Oral presentation to be offered at the 2009 Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research.

Zimmerman, M. (2009, April). Adolescent resilience and empowerment. Keynote speaker at University of Victoria’s Centre for Youth and Society Conference, Victoria, BC.

Brenner, A. (2009, March). Neighborhood characteristics and drug use: The role of context in adolescent marijuana use.  Presented as part of a panel discussion at the Emerging Issues in Poverty and Inequality Conference, University of Michigan.

Zimmerman, M. (2008, December). Youth violence: It’s a public health issue.  Presentation offered as part of the Public Health Grand Rounds. University of Michigan School of Public Health, Office of Public Health Practice, Ann Arbor.

Bauermeister, J.A., Zimmerman, M., Caldwell, C, Xue, Y., & Gee, G. (2008, August). Sex partner age differences and sex risk behaviors among African American youth.  Poster presented at the 2008 International World AIDS Conference, Mexico City, Mexico.

Hurd, N. & Zimmerman, M.A. (2008, August). Natural mentoring relationships among adolescent mothers: A study of resiliency.  Poster presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention in Boston, MA.

Hurd, N. & Zimmerman, M.A. (2008, March). Natural mentors and adolescent health: A longitudinal analysis of African American youth transitioning into adulthood.  Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting in Chicago, IL.

Hurd, N., Xue, Y., & Zimmerman, M.A. (2007, March). Negative adult influences and the protective effects of role models: A study with African American adolescents.  Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting in Boston, MA.

Fergus, S. & Zimmerman, M.A. (December 2005). Sexual risk behavior growth trajectories in adolescence and the transition to adulthood: Modeling mother and father support as resilience factors in a predominantly African-American sample. Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Flint Adolescent Study in the News:

"Long work hours ruin teens sexual health".Times of India, August 27th, 2009.

"Wrong workplace prompts teens to bed older partners." Sindhtoday.net, August 27, 2009.

"Wrong workplace prompts teens to bed older partners". TechRadar.com, August 27, 2009.

"Working may stress teen sexual health" . Psychcentral.com, August 26, 2009.

"Working too much can be dangerous for teen's sexual health". UM Press Release August 25th, 2009.

"Certain working environments may be dangerous to young people's sexual health." The Record Update, August 17, 2009