Problem Behavior Theory and the Social Context

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction to the Volume

   • Richard Jessor

   Pages 1-9

3. Problem Behavior Theory and the Social Context of Disadvantage

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

      PDF

   2. “Making It” Among At-Risk Youth: The Role of the Social Context

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 13-30

   3. Problem Behavior Theory and Success Despite Disadvantage

      • Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Frances M. Costa

      Pages 31-56

   4. Social Context Protection and Risk in Adolescent Behavior and Development

      • Frances M. Costa, Richard Jessor, Mark S. Turbin, Qi Dong, Hongchuan Zhang, Changhai Wang

      Pages 57-88

   5. Neighborhood Variation and Successful Adolescent Development

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 89-94

   6. Problem Behavior Theory and Adolescent Problem Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa

      • Robert P. Ndugwa, Caroline W. Kabiru, John Cleland, Donatien Beguy, Thaddeus Egondi, Eliya M. Zulu et al.

      Pages 95-115

   7. Successful Adolescence in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya

      • Caroline W. Kabiru, Donatien Beguy, Robert P. Ndugwa, Eliya M. Zulu, Richard Jessor

      Pages 117-135

   8. Problem Behavior Theory and the Transition to Adulthood in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya

      • Thaddaeus Egondi, Caroline Kabiru, Donatien Beguy, Kanyiva Muindi, Richard Jessor

      Pages 137-159

4. Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Engaging the Social Context

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 161-161

      PDF

   2. The Perceived Environment as Social Context

      • Richard Jessor, Shirley L. Jessor

      Pages 163-181

   3. The Perceived Environment and the Psychological Situation

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 183-205

   4. Engaging Subjectivity in Understanding Individual Differences

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 207-215

   5. Explaining Behavior and Development in the Language of Psychology

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 217-226

   6. The Perceived Environment in Personality Variation

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 227-237

   7. Continuity in Psychosocial Change from Adolescence to Young Adulthood

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 239-260

   8. Restoring Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry: The Reach of Qualitative Methods

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 261-271

   9. The Transdisciplinary Nature of Contemporary Behavioral Science

      • Richard Jessor

      Pages 273-275

   10. The Cross-National Generality of Theoretical Explanation

       • Richard Jessor

       Pages 277-280

This third and final volume of Richard Jessor’s collected works explores the central role of the social context in the formulation and application of Problem Behavior Theory. It discusses the effect of the social environment, especially the social context of disadvantage and limited opportunity, on adolescent behavior, health, and development. The book examines the application of the theory in social contexts as diverse as the inner cities of the United States; the slums of Nairobi, Kenya; and the urban settings of Beijing, China. It also provides insight into how adolescents and young adults manage to “succeed”, despite disadvantage, limited opportunity, and even dangers in their everyday life settings. It illuminates how these youth manage to stay on track in school, avoid unintended pregnancy and dropout, keep clear of the criminal justice system, and remain uninvolved in heavy drug use. In addition, the book discusses the conceptual and methodological issues entailed in engaging the social context, including the role of subjectivity and meaning in an objective behavioral science; the contribution of the perceived environment in determining behavior; the continuity that characterizes adolescent growth and development; the necessity for a social-psychological level of analysis that avoids reductionism; the importance of a framework that engages the larger social environment; and the advantage of  adhering to systematic theory for the explanatory generality it yields.
Topics featured in this volume include:

• Home-leaving and its occurrence among youth in impoverished circumstances.
  
• The continuity of adolescent developmental change.
  
• The impact of neighborhood disadvantage on successful adolescent development.
  
• Successful adolescence in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.
  
• Explaining both behavior and development in the language of social psychology.  

Problem Behavior Theory and the Social Context is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, and related professionals as well as graduate students in sociology, social and developmental psychology, criminology/criminal justice, public health, and allied disciplines.

• Adolescent problem behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Adolescent resilience in Kenya
• At-risk youth and social context
• Behavioral science and environment
• Cross-national research on adolescence
• Development from adolescence to young adulthood
• Ethnography and adolescent development
• High-risk settings and successful adolescent development
• Individual differences and subjectivity
• Neighborhoods and adolescent development
• Perceived environment and psychological situation
• Perceived environment as social context
• Phenomenological personality theories
• Phenomenology and personality
• Protective factors during adolescence
• Reductionism in psychology
• Risk factors during adolescence
• Social contexts and adolescence in China
• Social contexts and adolescence in the United States
• Transition to young adulthood in Kenya

• Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, USA

  Richard Jessor

Richard Jessor, PhD, ScD, is Distinguished Professor of Behavioral Science and Professor of Psychology, Emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder where he has spent his entire academic career. One of the founders of the university’s Institute of Behavioral Science in 1959, he served as its Director from 1980 to 2001. He was Founding Director of the Institute’s Research Program on Problem Behavior and, later, its Research Program on Health and Society. From 1987 to 1997, he also directed the Mac Arthur Foundation’s Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development among Youth in High Risk Settings. He is the author or editor of 13  books and has published over 135 articles and book chapters. In 2003, he was designated a “Highly Cited Researcher” in the Social Science: General category by the Institute for Scientific Information.

Educated at the College of the City of New York and Yale University, where he received his B.A. degree in Psychology in 1946, Jessor received an M.A. from Columbia University in 1947 and a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1951 from Ohio State University, where he was a student of Julian B. Rotter. He has been a consultant to various federal agencies and private foundations as well as the World Health Organization, Health and Welfare Canada, and UNICEF. He has served on several National Research Council panels and on the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. He was an invited Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1995-96, and he received the Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine Award in 2005 from the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Jessor is, after 66 years, the longest-serving active faculty member at the University of Colorado. In May 2015, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by the Regents of the University of Colorado.

Policies and ethics