Thriving while engaging in risk? Examining trajectories of adaptive functioning, delinquency, and substance use in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents.

Abstract

Recent advances in positive youth development theory and research explicate complex associations between adaptive functioning and risk behavior, acknowledging that high levels of both co-occur in the lives of some adolescents. However, evidence on nuanced overlapping developmental trajectories of adaptive functioning and risk has been limited to 1 sample of youth and a single conceptualization of adaptive functioning. We build on prior work by utilizing a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents (N = 1,665) followed from 7th grade until after high school and using a measure of adaptive functioning that was validated in a secondary sample of older adolescents (N = 93). In using dual trajectory growth mixture modeling to investigate links between developmental trajectories of adaptive functioning and delinquency and substance use, respectively, results provided evidence of heterogeneity in the overlap between adaptive functioning and risk trajectories. Males were more likely to be in the highest adaptive functioning group as well as the most at-risk delinquency class. The magnitude of negative associations between adaptive functioning and both risk behaviors decreased at Wave 3, indicating a decoupling of adaptive functioning and risk as youth aged. These findings converge in underscoring the need to generate a cohesive theory that specifies factors that promote adaptive functioning and risk in concert.

Victimization, Aggression, and Other Problem Behaviors: Trajectories of Change Within and Across Middle School Grades

“…These findings are consistent with Warren et al. (), who found increases in substance use between the seventh and eighth grades for a subgroup (i.e., 30%) of a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Increases in alcohol use were also found among Chicago youth from ages 12 to 15 (Sacco, Bright, Jun, & Stapleton, ).…”

“…Significant gender differences were found for delinquent behavior such that boys initially reported higher overall frequencies than girls, but reported greater decreases during summers compared to the school years. This is consistent with prior studies that have found that adolescent boys engage in more delinquent behavior than adolescent girls (e.g., Lewin‐Bizan et al., ; Warren et al., ), but suggests that these differences may be less apparent during the summer months.…”

“…The mean reported frequency of delinquent behavior was stable across sixth and seventh grade and decreased during the eighth grade. A prior study also found decreases in delinquency from the seventh to eighth grade (Warren et al, 2016). Our finding of significant negative correlations between Intercept factors and eighth grade linear slopes indicated that adolescents reporting higher initial frequencies showed greater decreases during the eighth grade.…”

“…One of the unique aspects of this study was the collection of multiple waves of data both within and across all three grades of middle school. This contrasts with prior studies that have examined changes across a broader range of ages (e.g., Jennings & Reingle, ), and variability in trajectories of problem behaviors across grades (e.g., Ehrenreich et al., ; Orpinas et al., ; Sumter et al., ; Warren et al., ). Although such studies provide valuable insights into patterns of problem behavior throughout the life course, the present study illustrates the potential value of more intensive analysis of changes over shorter time intervals for providing insights into individual‐level changes.…”

“…They also found gender and setting differences such that girls in a rural sample reported lower overall levels, but they did not find similar effects for an urban sample. Similarly, Warren, Wray‐Lake, Rote, and Shubert () found that 30% of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in the United States reported a modest degree of use in the seventh grade on a composite measure of substance use, with an increase during the eighth grade. They did not find gender differences in trajectories.…”