Search Results

Methods: Data for this study consisted of Waves 4, 6, and 8 of the NLSY97 longitudinal study containing a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents and young adults. A total of 7,979 adolescents (Mean age at Wave 4 = 17.98, SD = 1.44, 49% female) were included in the analyses. To investigate the co-morbidity between negative affect and cigarette use, a latent factor of negative affect and single indicator of cigarette consumption were examined at each wave. A three wave Bivariate Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Effect Model was estimated to test the conjoint trajectory of negative affect and smoking.

Results: For all racial/ethnic groups prior negative affect status influenced future negative affect between waves and prior negative affect was positively related to increases in smoking in subsequent waves. The longitudinal trajectory of negative affect for the three racial/ethnic groups was the same, but racial/ethnic group differences were observed in the strength of the longitudinal relationship between previous and future cigarette use. Specifically, the following racial/ethnic differences were observed, even after controlling for the effect of SES; White young adults were found to exhibit the strongest association between cigarette use in the first two waves, followed by Hispanic individuals and lastly by African Americans. In the last two waves, African American young adults were found to have the strongest association between cigarette use at the latter two waves, followed by White individuals.

Conclusions: Both negative affect and cigarette consumption influence each other during the transition between late adolescence and young adulthood but the magnitude of the associations between cigarettes use across waves differed bet ween racial/ethnic groups. Implications for prevention and treatment programs include considering both cigarette use and negative affect as two factors that jointly impact each other and that should be targeted simultaneously.

Methods: Data on pregnancies in National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 were used. Current study sample consists of Hispanic women (15-24 years) reporting pregnancy between 1979 and 2014 (n = 616). Data on birthplaces of the respondent and their parents were used to determine generation status. Maternal smoking behaviors before and during pregnancy were self-reported. Data were analyzed using weighted covariate-adjusted logistic regression models.

Results: There were 24% first-generation, 20% second-generation, and 56% third or higher generation Hispanic women in the sample. Majority of participants were married (72%), with a high school degree or more (69%), and of Mexican origin (56%). After controlling for covariates, first generation Hispanic women had lower likelihood of smoking prior to (OR=0.40, p =0.009) and during pregnancy (OR=0.35, p =0.007) compared to third or higher generation women. The second-generation women had lower likelihood of smoking during pregnancy (OR=0.46, p =0.038) compared to third or higher generation women.

Methods: The study included 5141 adolescents from the child sample of the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and utilized biennial data across the 12 assessments (1986–2008) to examine trajectories of substance use behaviors (i.e., cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and marijuana use) from ages 12 to 18 and obesity trajectories from ages 20 to 24. Group-based dual trajectory modeling was applied to examine sequential associations of trajectories of each type of substance use behavior with obesity trajectories.

Results: Three distinctive trajectory patterns were respectively identified for cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and marijuana use from ages 12 to 18, as well as for obesity status (BMI ≥ 30) from ages 20 to 24. Taking into account gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and obesity status in adolescence, adolescents with the most problematic smoking trajectory (High-decreasing) were more likely to exhibit a High-obesity trajectory from ages 20 to 24. Also, adolescents with an Increasing marijuana use trajectory were more likely to exhibit an Increased obesity trajectory in young adulthood.

Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that adolescent substance use is associated with subsequent obesity in young adulthood. The associations appear to differ based on the type of substance use and patterns of use.

Methods: The models were applied to longitudinal data on youth alcohol use from ages 12 through 19, collected in the (U.S.) National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (N = 8984).

Results: Results confirmed that Black adolescents initiate alcohol use at later ages than do White youth. Further, after initiation, White adolescents were substantially more likely than Black adolescents to continue reporting alcohol use in subsequent years. Hispanic teens showed an intermediate pattern. Gender differences were more ambiguous, with a tendency for boys to be less likely to continue drinking after initiation than were girls.

Conclusions: Novel findings from the new analytic models suggest differential implications of early alcohol use by race and gender. Early use of alcohol might be less consequential for males who initiate alcohol use early, Black, and Hispanic youth than for their female and White counterparts.