The difference between a break statement and a continue statement in java are the functionality and the usage context when using both statements. The first way break statements and continue statements differ is by functionality. For break, they immediately terminate the loop or switch statement it is in$,$ and the control is transferred to the statement following the loop or switch. For continue statements, they skip the current iteration of the loop, and it then proceeds with the next iteration.

The next difference would be when it comes to usage context. For a break statement, they are commonly used to exit loops prematurely or to exit a switch statement. Then you have the usage context of a continue statement. A continue statement is used to skip the remaining code inside the loop for the current iteration and jump to the next iteration of the loop.

The if$-$else if statements in java are used to specify multiple conditions to be checked sequentially. If the first condition is false, the next else if condition is checked, and so on$.$ This allows for a more complex decision$-$making process in the code. You can use multiple else if statements to check various conditions. This is useful when you have more than two possible outcomes and need to handle each one differently.