Abstract: Consequences of Adolescent Risk Behavior Trajectories On Diagnostic Mental Health Outcomes (Society for Prevention Research 21st Annual Meeting)
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151 Consequences of Adolescent Risk Behavior Trajectories On Diagnostic Mental Health Outcomes

Schedule:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Pacific D-O (Hyatt Regency San Francisco)
* noted as presenting author
Brian S. Mustanski, PhD, Assoc Prof and Program Director, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Gayle Byck, PhD, Asst Prof, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Greg Swann, MA, Research Analyst, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Michael Newcomb, PhD, Asst Prof, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
David Henry, PhD, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
John Bolland, PhD, Professor and Research Chairholder, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Introduction. Adolescent health risk behaviors, specifically substance use, conduct problems, and sexual risk-taking, are the primary direct and indirect causes of morbidity and mortality. Our study adds to the literature by using longitudinal risk-behavior trajectories of an urban, low-income, African American population to predict diagnostic mental health outcomes.  Few studies have looked at the relationship of trajectory class to later health outcomes. The study aims were to determine whether trajectories of risk taking in adolescence were associated with conduct problems, oppositional defiant behavior, rule-breaking behavior, aggressive behavior, and externalizing problems.

Methods.  We used growth-mixture modeling to classify our sample of 592 low-income, African American adolescents into four multiple risk trajectories based on their reported behaviors in the areas of substance use, conduct problems, and sexual risk-taking during adolescence. One-way ANOVAs were then used to test whether classes were significantly different from each other on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (C-DISC) version 4.0, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self-Report (YSR) outcomes.

Results.  The “increasing high-risk takers” scored higher than the normative class on C-DISC conduct disorder (CD) symptom counts (M=6.86 vs. 4.91, p<.05), and on CBCL scores regarding conduct problems (M=6.24 vs. 3.78, p<.05), oppositional defiant disorder (M=4.14 vs. 2.93, p<.05), rule-breaking (M=6.35 vs. 3.97, p<.01) and aggressive behaviors (M=10.51 vs. 7.15, p<05) . The “early experimenters” had higher CDISC CD symptom counts (M=8.33 vs. 4.91, p<.001), CBCL conduct problems scores (M=6.67 vs. 3.78, p<.05), and YSR conduct problems (M=6.62 vs. 4.15, p<.05) and rule-breaking behaviors (M=7.23 vs. 4.42, p<.01) scores. The “adolescent-limited” group differed from the normative class only on their caregiver-reported CBCL rule-breaking behaviors score (M=6.77 vs. 3.97, p<.05).

Conclusions. Examining adolescents’ behaviors in sexual risk-taking, substance use and conduct problems may be helpful for identifying which adolescents may develop externalizing behavior disorders (versus normative engagement in risk behaviors) and designing appropriate interventions to prevent these behaviors

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