Trajectories of Depression and Alcohol Use in Black and White Adolescent Girls

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究旨在研究白人和非裔美国青春期女孩从青春期早期到成年的抑郁症状和酒精使用的轨迹。这项研究还将考察父母-青少年关系的特征作为不同轨迹的潜在预测因素。这项研究的具体目的是：1)检查青春期女孩从高中早期到成年期间抑郁和药物使用并存的特定种族发展轨迹；2)确定家庭关系变量是否预测不同种族背景的青春期女孩药物使用和抑郁的特定轨迹。为了做到这一点，我们将使用来自全国青少年健康纵向研究的数据，这是一个具有全国代表性的青少年数据集，其中包括对饮酒频率和严重程度的各种衡量标准，以及流行病研究中心抑郁量表的简化版，后者是一种广泛使用且得到充分验证的抑郁症状衡量标准。数据集还包括对亲子关系不同方面的大量测量，以及对大量潜在协变量的测量，包括人口统计和结构变量、同伴关系、学校表现、犯罪和反社会行为，以及自尊和人格变量。数据分析将涉及使用一种新开发的方法来分析纵向数据，这将使我们能够根据参与者随着时间的推移抑郁和饮酒的轨迹将他们分组，并检查家庭变量作为轨迹组成员的预测因素。这些分析将得到更传统的分层线性建模方法的补充。这项研究的结果将增加我们对抑郁症状和酒精使用模式的个体差异以及它们在白人和非裔美国青春期女孩中共同出现的理解。这项研究还将提供不同抑郁症和饮酒轨迹的家庭层面风险因素的种族差异信息。最终，这些发现将显示出更广泛的公共卫生价值，因为它们有助于为青春期女孩的抑郁症和酒精使用设计具有文化敏感性的预防计划。该项目的总体目标与减少青少年的精神健康问题和物质使用是一致的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study aims to examine trajectories of depressive symptoms and alcohol use in White and African American adolescent girls from the early adolescent years through the transition to adulthood. This study will also examine characteristics of the parent-adolescent relationship as potential predictors of different trajectories. The specific aims of the study are to 1) examine race-specific developmental trajectories of the comorbidity of depression and substance use in adolescent girls from the early high school years through the transition to adulthood; and 2) determine whether family relationship variables predict particular trajectories of substance use and depression for adolescent girls of different racial backgrounds. To accomplish this, we will use data from the National Longitudinal Studies of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative dataset of adolescents that includes a variety of measures of frequency and severity of alcohol use, as well as an abridged version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, a widely used and well-validated measure of depressive symptoms. The dataset also includes a large number of measures of different aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship, as well as measures of a large number of potential covariates, including demographic and structural variables, peer relationships, school performance, delinquency and antisocial behavior, and self-esteem and personality variables. Data analyses will involve the use of a newly-developed approach for analyzing longitudinal data, which will allow us to group participants into distinct clusters based on their trajectories of depression and alcohol use over time, and to examine family variables as predictors of trajectory group membership. These analyses will be complemented by a more traditional hierarchical linear modeling approach. The findings of this study will increase our understanding of individual differences in patterns of depressive symptoms and alcohol use and their co-occurrence in White and African American adolescent girls. The study will also provide information on race differences in family-level risk factors for different trajectories of depression and alcohol use. Ultimately, findings will demonstrate a broader public health value in their utility in informing the design of culturally-sensitive prevention programs for depression and alcohol use in adolescent girls. The broad goals of the project are consistent with reducing mental health problems and substance use in adolescents.