Adolescent sexual behavior is multidimensional, yet most studies of the topic use variable-oriented methods that reduce behaviors to a single dimension. In this study, we used a person-oriented approach to model adolescent sexual behavior comprehensively, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We identified five latent classes of adolescent sexual behavior: Abstinent (39%), Oral Sex (10%), Low-Risk (25%), Multi-Partner Normative (12%), and Multi-Partner Early (13%). Membership in riskier classes of sexual behavior was predicted by substance use and depressive symptoms. Class membership was also associated with young adult STI outcomes although these associations differed by gender. Male adolescents' STI rates increased with membership in classes with more risky behaviors whereas females' rates were consistent among all sexually active classes. These findings demonstrate the advantages of examining adolescent sexuality in a way that emphasizes its complexity.
Confounding present in observational data impede community psychologists’ ability to draw causal inferences. This paper describes propensity score methods as a conceptually straightforward approach to drawing causal inferences from observational data. A step-by-step demonstration of three propensity score methods – weighting, matching, and subclassification – is presented in the context of an empirical examination of the causal effect of preschool experiences (Head Start vs. parental care) on reading development in kindergarten. Although the unadjusted population estimate indicated that children with parental care had substantially higher reading scores than children who attended Head Start, all propensity score adjustments reduce the size of this overall causal effect by more than half. The causal effect was also defined and estimated among children who attended Head Start. Results provide no evidence for improved reading if those children had instead received parental care. We carefully define different causal effects and discuss their respective policy implications, summarize advantages and limitations of each propensity score method, and provide SAS and R syntax so that community psychologists may conduct causal inference in their own research.
Purpose
To describe historical trends in rates of recent substance use, and associations between marijuana and other substances, among United States high school seniors by race and gender.
Methods
Data from Monitoring the Future (1976–2013; n=599,109) were used to estimate historical trends in alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, cigarette use, and marijuana use. We used time-varying effect models to flexibly estimate changes in associations of substance use behaviors.
Results
Past-month marijuana use rates peaked in the 1970s, declined through 1990, then rose again to reach levels of use of more than 20% for both Black and White participants. Recent years show increasing disparities across groups such that males, and in particular Black youth, are on a trajectory toward higher use. This rise in marijuana use is particularly concerning among Black youth, with rates far exceeding those for cigarette use and heavy episodic drinking. The association of marijuana use with both cigarette use and heavy episodic drinking is particularly high in recent years among Black adolescents.
Conclusions
Substance use recently declined among high school seniors, except for marijuana use, particularly among Black youth. The increasing association between marijuana and other substances among Black adolescents suggests future amplification in critical health disparities.
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