Identifying subgroups of adolescent substance use and delinquency in South Africa

描述（由申请人提供）：南非是青少年药物使用和犯罪的高风险国家之一。种族隔离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药物使用和犯罪是如何独立发展的，以及这些行为是如何在这种情况下共同发生的。目前的研究将独特地有助于研究南非青少年的药物使用和犯罪行为，特别是关于他们使用甲基苯丙胺的问题。该研究旨在确定同时发生的青少年药物使用者和犯罪分子的潜在类别（亚组），并检查这些亚组如何随时间变化。目前的研究结果对预防研究和公共卫生有两个主要意义。首先，更好地了解南非青少年药物使用和犯罪是如何发生的，可能会为南非其他地区高风险环境中预防方案的设计提供理论基础。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以为青少年可能的亚群体提供独特的见解，从而影响项目是选择针对特定风险行为还是针对多种风险行为。

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.