Identifying subgroups of adolescent substance use and delinquency in South Africa

描述（由申请人提供）：南非的情况是青少年药物使用和犯罪的高风险之一。大屠杀后的环境包括重大的政治、经济和社会变革、歧视和日益增加的暴力。重要的是要了解青少年物质使用和犯罪是如何独立发展的，以及这些行为如何在这种情况下共同发生。目前的研究将独特地有助于研究南非青少年的物质使用和犯罪行为，特别是对他们的甲基苯丙胺使用。这项研究的目的是确定潜在的类（亚组）的共同发生的青少年物质使用者和罪犯，并检查这些亚组如何随着时间的推移而变化。目前的研究结果对预防研究和公共卫生有两个主要影响。首先，更好地了解如何青少年物质使用和犯罪发生在南非可能会通知在南非其他地区的高风险背景下的预防方案的设计理论。其次，使用以人为本的方法来研究青少年药物使用和犯罪可能会为可能的青少年亚群提供独特的见解，从而影响项目是否选择针对特定的风险行为而不是多种风险行为。 公共卫生相关性：应用创新的统计方法可能是更好地了解同时发生的青少年药物使用和犯罪的一种方式。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The South African context is one of high risk for adolescent substance use and delinquency. The post-Apartheid environment consists of major political, economic, and social changes, discrimination and increasing violence. It is important to understand how adolescent substance use and delinquency develop independently as well as how these behaviors co-occur in this context. The current study will uniquely contribute to research on substance use and delinquent behaviors among South African adolescents, and in particular, on their methamphetamine use. The research study aims to identify latent classes (subgroups) of co-occurring adolescent substance users and delinquents and to examine how these subgroups change over time. Results of the current study have two major implications for prevention research and public health. First, better understanding of how adolescent substance use and delinquency occur in South Africa may inform the theory underlying the design of prevention programs in high risk contexts in other parts of South Africa. Second, using a person-oriented approach toward the study of adolescent substance use and delinquency may provide unique insight into possible subgroups of adolescents, affecting whether programs choose to target specific risk behaviors versus multiple risk behaviors. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The application of innovative statistical methods may be one way to better understand co-occurring adolescent substance use and delinquency.