Prevention of Behavioral Risk Outcomes: First-Time Offending, Court Involved, Non-Incarcerated Latinx Youth, Their Immediate Context, and the Acculturation Gap

Introduction: Relatively little research has examined the relationship of the immediate context (i.e., family relationships and communication, neighborhood, and perceived school climate) on behavioral risk outcomes (psychiatric symptoms, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors) of First-Time Offending, Court Involved, Non-Incarcerated (FTO-CINI) Latinx youth. Unmet behavioral risk needs are one of the most salient predictors of future justice involvement, thus demonstrating the need for practitioners to learn more and better treat their unmet needs. Assessing Latinx youth and the relationship with their immediate contexts provides a unique opportunity to inform practitioners of risk and protective factors of behavioral risk outcomes.

As the number of Latinx youth in the U.S. continues to grow, it is imperative that researchers understand cultural factors and their relationship to behavioral risk outcomes. Researchers have identified that for Latinx youth, the acculturation gap—the differing acculturation rates between caregivers and their youth to the U.S. culture—increases the possibility for behavioral risk outcomes, but only for Latinx families with poor communication. A critique of previous studies is that acculturation levels are only assessed from the youth’s perspective and not the caregiver. This will be one of the first studies to highlight both the caregiver and youth’s perception of the acculturation gap, and—one of the first studies to assess the relationship between the acculturation gap and behavioral risk outcomes with FTO-CINI, Latinx youth.

Methods: This study examines data collected from 181 Latinx youth and families who are part of a larger longitudinal assessment study of substance use, psychiatric symptoms, HIV/STI risk behavior and recidivism patterns of 400 First-Time Offending Court Involved Non-Incarcerated (FTO-CINI) youth (Project EPICC; DA034538). We will examine the associations at baseline between the immediate systems and behavioral risk outcomes. We will then assess if caregiver-youth acculturation gaps moderate the association between negative communication and behavioral risk outcomes.

Results: To assess the associations between the immediate systems and risk behavior outcomes, we will use both the unadjusted and age-adjusted relationship using linear and logistic regression as appropriate. We will then examine the interaction of the caregiver-youth acculturation gap with negative communication using linear and logistic regression models to predict risk behavior outcomes.

Conclusions: Findings can begin to inform the public health and legal fields development and testing of culturally congruent screening tools and community linkage processes to address the unmet behavioral health needs of FTO-CINI Latinx youth.