TY - JOUR
T1 - U.S. Trends in Adolescent Substance Use and Conduct Problems and Their Relation to Trends in Unstructured In-Person Socializing With Peers
AU - Borodovsky, Jacob T.
AU - Krueger, Robert F.
AU - Agrawal, Arpana
AU - Elbanna, Basant
AU - de Looze, Margaretha
AU - Grucza, Richard A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism R21AA025689, F32AA027941; the National Institute on Drug Abuse R21DA044744, R01 DA042195, and K02DA032573; the National Institute on Aging R01AG053217 and U19AG051426; and the Templeton Foundation. The funding agencies and data providers had no role in the design, conduct, collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of data, or manuscript preparation, review, approval, or the decision to submit for publication. J.T.B. wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and no honorarium, grant, or other form of payment was given to anyone to produce the manuscript. Conflicts of interest: J.T.B. is a member of the board of directors and treasurer of MySafeRx Inc., a nonprofit scientific research organization. He receives no financial compensation from this organization. R.F.K., A.A., B.E., M.E.D., and R.A.G. have no relevant conflicts to declare.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Purpose: This study examined whether national trends in unstructured in-person socializing with peers (i.e., socializing without goals or supervision) among adolescents could help explain recent declines in adolescent risk behaviors (e.g., substance use, fighting, theft). Methods: The sample contained of 44,842 U.S. 12th-grade students (aged 17–18 years) from the Monitoring the Future survey (years 1999–2017). Analyses examined (1) prevalence trends, (2) latent factor structure of risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing, and (3) whether trends in the unstructured in-person socializing factor accounted for the relationship between time (i.e., survey year) and the risk behavior factor. Results: Adolescent risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing declined by approximately 30% in the U.S., and both formed coherent latent factors. After adjusting for sociodemographics, declines in unstructured in-person socializing accounted for approximately 86% of declines in risk behaviors. Conclusions: The prevalence of risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing behaviors declined among U.S. 12th graders from 1999 to 2017. It is unknown whether such effects are directly causal and/or influenced by unmeasured variables. However, the results provide evidence that national declines in unstructured in-person socializing are a likely component of the explanation for national declines in adolescent risk behaviors.
AB - Purpose: This study examined whether national trends in unstructured in-person socializing with peers (i.e., socializing without goals or supervision) among adolescents could help explain recent declines in adolescent risk behaviors (e.g., substance use, fighting, theft). Methods: The sample contained of 44,842 U.S. 12th-grade students (aged 17–18 years) from the Monitoring the Future survey (years 1999–2017). Analyses examined (1) prevalence trends, (2) latent factor structure of risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing, and (3) whether trends in the unstructured in-person socializing factor accounted for the relationship between time (i.e., survey year) and the risk behavior factor. Results: Adolescent risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing declined by approximately 30% in the U.S., and both formed coherent latent factors. After adjusting for sociodemographics, declines in unstructured in-person socializing accounted for approximately 86% of declines in risk behaviors. Conclusions: The prevalence of risk behaviors and unstructured in-person socializing behaviors declined among U.S. 12th graders from 1999 to 2017. It is unknown whether such effects are directly causal and/or influenced by unmeasured variables. However, the results provide evidence that national declines in unstructured in-person socializing are a likely component of the explanation for national declines in adolescent risk behaviors.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Delinquency
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Multivariate modeling
KW - Risk behavior
KW - Substance abuse
KW - Unstructured socializing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103550143&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.12.144
DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.12.144
M3 - Article
C2 - 33814281
AN - SCOPUS:85103550143
SN - 1054-139X
VL - 69
SP - 432
EP - 439
JO - Journal of Adolescent Health
JF - Journal of Adolescent Health
IS - 3
ER -