The Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS): A prospective cohort study of the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use from adolescence to adulthood in Northern Ireland

Higgins, Kathryn; McLaughlin, Aisling; Perra, Oliver; McCartan, Claire; McCann, Mark; Percy, Andrew; Jordan, Julie Anne

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195192

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…All students in participating schools were surveyed in their first year of post primary education in the academic year 2000/2001 and annually thereafter for 5 years of compulsory schooling. The study is described in detail elsewhere [31]. The participant count and response proportions were wave 1: 3,834 (87%); wave 2: 4,343 (83%); wave 3: 4,522 (86%); wave 4: 3,965 (76%); wave 5: 3,830 (74%).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer, Family, and School Contextual Influences on Adolescent Drinking Frequency

McCann

Jordan²,

Higgins³

et al. 2019

Journal of Adolescent Health

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Purpose The aim of the study was to identify the mechanisms relating to parental control, adolescent secrecy, and school context that shape patterns of adolescent drinking frequency and appraise the implications for systems-level intervention. Methods The Belfast Youth Development Study collected information on friendship networks in schools, alcohol use, and Stattin and Kerr's parental monitoring subscales across 5 years of postprimary school education in annual waves from age 11–15 years. Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models were fitted to 22 schools (N = 3,220) to assess friendship formation and peer influence processes related to drinking frequency and their variation by parental control or child secrecy. Meta-regressions and summary statistic ego-alter selection tables assessed how network and behavior co-evolution varied according to school gender and the proportion of weekly or more frequent drinkers in each school. Results Adolescents tended to mimic their peers' drinking levels, and frequent drinkers befriended those who drank similarly to them. Those with high parental control were less likely to befriend low-control peers, whereas low-control pupils were more likely to befriend each other. Adolescents with low-control parents nominated fewer friends in schools with higher proportions of drinking frequently. There was a tendency toward befriending highly secretive peers in boys schools only. Conclusions Our results suggest that the optimal strategy for selecting seed nodes in a diffusion of innovations network intervention may vary according to school context, and that targeting family interventions around parent characteristics may modify the wider school network, potentially augmenting network intervention processes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer, Family, and School Contextual Influences on Adolescent Drinking Frequency

McCann

Jordan²,

Higgins³

et al. 2019

Journal of Adolescent Health

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“…The participants were young people attending mainstream post-primary schools in Northern Ireland who took part in BYDS, which spanned seven waves (W) (see Higgins et al, 2018 for a detailed description of the BYDS sample). The present study uses data from the first five waves which were separated by yearly intervals covering the period from W1 in 2001 (12 years old) to W5 in 2005 (16 years old).…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

School bonding and ethos in trajectories of offending: Results from the Belfast Youth Development Study

Higgins

Perra

Jordan

et al. 2020

Brit J of Edu Psychol

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Background Aspects of the school environment, such as school attachment levels, are linked to adolescent offending. Previous research has not clarified whether a school‐ or individual‐level intervention approach to improving pupil school attachment and commitment is most likely to reduce adolescent offending. Aim The present study assessed the impact of individual‐ and school‐level variables on offending behaviour from ages 14–16 years. Sample The participants were 4,049 young people from 42 mainstream schools who took part in the Belfast Youth Development Study. Method Multilevel modelling was used to examine the relative influence of individual‐ and school‐level variables on offending behaviour in adolescence. Results Pupils who had high levels of school commitment and attachment and were involved in fewer fights at age 13 reported lower levels of offending at age 14 years. Differences between schools accounted for 7% of the variation in offending. Lower individual‐level commitment was associated with higher initial levels of offending at age 14 if the school‐level ethos was of higher commitment. Lack of safety at the school level appeared to be detrimental for young people not exposed to socio‐economic deprivation. Conclusions Individual‐level targeted interventions are likely to be a more cost‐effective approach of reducing offending behaviour in adolescence. Additional, albeit smaller, reductions in offending levels could be achieved through school‐level interventions in some school types (e.g., deprived areas).

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“…Cohort members were aged about 21 years at this stage. For more information on the BYDS, see Higgins et al 67 and the Queen's University Belfast (QUB) project webpage [www.qub.ac.uk/researchcentres/darn/Projects (accessed 14 May 2019)].…”

Section: Secondary Data Source: Belfast Youth Development Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was the perspective taken within the BYDS, and statistical data were utilised to model pathways in and out of substance use within the context of a wide range of variables at individual, family, school and community levels (see Higgins et al 67 ), all underpinned by an integrated theoretical framework based on the risk and protective factors noted. So, too, is this conceptualisation evident in the life course perspective central to the qualitative narrative interviews conducted.…”

Section: Life Course Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for public health on novel psychoactive substance use: a mixed-methods study

et al. 2019

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Background Novel psychoactive substances (NPSs) contribute to the public health impact of substance misuse. This report provides research evidence addressing 11 research questions related to NPSs, covering types, patterns and settings of use; supply sources; and implications for policy and practice. Methods The study used a conceptually linked three-phase mixed-methods design with a shared conceptual framework based on multiple-context risk and protective factors. Phase 1 was a quantitative phase involving secondary data analysis of the longitudinal Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS), a latent class analysis using the 2039 BYDS participants. Phase 2 was an extensive qualitative analysis via narrative interviews with participants, sampled from BYDS, drug/alcohol services and prisons, to explore NPS use trajectories. Phase 3 was the final quantitative phase; generalisability of the shared risk factor part of the model was tested using the manual three-step approach to examine risk factors associated with latent class membership. The quantitative and qualitative analyses were integrated, thus allowing emerging findings to be further explored. Results The data suggest that NPSs have a place within a range of polydrug use trajectories. Models showed no distinctive NPS class, with no clear evidence of differential risks for NPS use compared with the use of other substances. From the qualitative analysis, a taxonomy of groups was derived that explored how and where NPSs featured in a range of trajectories. This taxonomy was used to structure the analysis of factors linked to use within a risk and protective framework. Drivers for use were considered alongside knowledge, perceptions and experience of harms. Suggestions about how interventions could best respond to the various patterns of use – with special consideration of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs), including how they relate to the use of heroin and the potential for NPSs to operate as a ‘snare’ to more problem use – were also presented. Limitations The study was conducted during 2016/17; generalisability beyond this sample and time point is limited. The level of missing data for some of the BYDS analysis was a limitation, as was the fact that the BYDS data were collected in 2011, so in a different context from the data collected during the narrative interviews. The Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (Great Britain. Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. London: The Stationery Office; 2016) came into force during qualitative fieldwork and, although not particularly influential in this study, may be influential in future work. It is acknowledged that many of the data related to SCs and mephedrone. Although drug use was measured by self-report, the strength of rapport within interviews, reflective diaries and methodological acceptability checks helped to mitigate self-report bias. Conclusions NPSs continue to present significant challenges for legislation and monitoring, researching and developing interventions. Understanding of usage patterns remains poor, with most information based on populations and settings where problems have already occurred. This research contributes to the evidence base by providing much needed further empirical data on the lived experiences of NPS users across a range of settings. In the light of these data, implications for policy and practice are discussed. Future work Future research must generate improved epidemiological data on the extent, patterns and motivations for use longitudinally. The uniqueness of the information concerning SC use points to a specific set of findings not evidenced in other literature (e.g. intensity of SC withdrawal). Future research should focus on the symbiotic link between SC and heroin use. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme.

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The Belfast Youth Development Study (BYDS): A prospective cohort study of the initiation, persistence and desistance of substance use from adolescence to adulthood in Northern Ireland

Cited by 7 publications

References 30 publications

Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer, Family, and School Contextual Influences on Adolescent Drinking Frequency

Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer, Family, and School Contextual Influences on Adolescent Drinking Frequency

School bonding and ethos in trajectories of offending: Results from the Belfast Youth Development Study

Evidence for public health on novel psychoactive substance use: a mixed-methods study

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