Parental marital status and adolescents' health-risk behavior

Adolescence. 1983 Summer;18(70):403-11.

Abstract

This article reports the results of a questionnaire survey of a representative random sample of all the in-school Francophone adolescents of Montreal. The sample size was 4,539 and included adolescents from legally intact homes, separated/divorced homes, and homes in which a parent was decreased. Health-risk behavioral indicators were smoking (how many cigarettes a day), fastening of car seat belts, and intemperate drinking. Adolescents who lived in intact families engaged less in health-risk behavior than the other adolescents, especially those from separated/divorced families. The results for adolescents from widowed families were mixed. Several mutually complementary explanations are presented.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior*
  • Alcoholic Intoxication / psychology
  • Attitude to Health*
  • Canada
  • Divorce
  • Family*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Marriage
  • Parents
  • Risk-Taking / physiology*
  • Seat Belts
  • Smoking
  • Surveys and Questionnaires