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

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究旨在检查白人和非裔美国少女从青春期早期到成年过渡期间的抑郁症状和酒精使用轨迹。本研究也将检视亲子关系的特征，作为不同发展轨迹的潜在预测因子。本研究的具体目的是：(1)研究从高中早期到成年的青春期女孩抑郁症和药物使用共病的种族特异性发展轨迹；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的物质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，这是一个全国代表性的青少年数据集，包括各种酒精使用频率和严重程度的测量，以及流行病学研究中心抑郁量表的删节版，抑郁量表是一种广泛使用且经过验证的抑郁症状测量。该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的抑郁和酒精使用轨迹将他们分成不同的集群，并检查家庭变量作为轨迹组成员的预测因素。这些分析将由更传统的分层线性建模方法加以补充。这项研究的发现将增加我们对白人和非裔美国少女抑郁症状和酒精使用模式的个体差异及其共存的理解。该研究还将提供关于不同抑郁和酒精使用轨迹的家庭层面风险因素的种族差异的信息。最终，研究结果将展示更广泛的公共卫生价值，因为它们可以为设计针对青春期女孩抑郁和酗酒的文化敏感预防项目提供信息。该项目的广泛目标与减少青少年的精神健康问题和药物使用是一致的。

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.