Parental Educational Attainment and Frequency of Marijuana Use in Youth: Hispanics’ Diminished Returns

Background: While socioeconomic status (SES) indicators such as parental educational attainment show robust associations with health behaviors such as substance use, the protective effects of these indicators may differ across racial groups. This phenomenon of weaker associations between SES indicators and health outcomes for marginalized and minoritized groups relative to non-Hispanic White people has been labeled “Marginalization-related Diminished Returns” (MDRs). Here, we test both whether parental educational attainment is associated with marijuana use frequency in youth as well as whether we observe racial and ethnic variation in this association consistent with MDRs. Methods: This study used data from the cross-sectional 2019 Monitoring the Future survey (MTF 2019). Participants included 29,230 youth who were either Hispanic (24.1%), non-Hispanic Black (16.1%), or non-Hispanic White (59.9%). We used weighted logistic regression models to test for (1) associations between maternal educational attainment and youth cannabis use frequency as well as (2) moderation of this association by race/ethnicity, while adjusting for the complex sample design of the MTF 2019 data. Age, sex, father presence, and maternal employment were entered into models as covariates. Results: Overall, children born to mothers with higher educational attainment reported less frequent marijuana use than peers born to mothers with lower educational attainment. However, this association was significantly weaker in Hispanic versus non-Hispanic White youth. Conclusion: The strength of the association between parental educational attainment and youth marijuana use frequency appears to differ across ethnic groups. Specifically, we observed that whereas non-Hispanic White youth from high-SES families tend to report less marijuana use than peers from lower-SES families, Hispanic youth report roughly equal levels of use across the full SES spectrum. This finding is in line with the MDRs framework and may reflect factors such as structural racism, social stratification, and the marginalization of ethnic minority families in the US.

The Contribution of Static and Dynamic Factors to Recidivism Prediction for Black and White Youth Offenders

Scholars have presented concerns about potential for racial bias in risk assessments as a result of the inclusion of static factors, such as criminal history in risk assessments. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which static factors add incremental validity to the dynamic factors in criminogenic risk assessments. This study examined the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in a sample of 1,270 youth offenders from a medium-sized Midwestern county between June 2004 and November 2013. Logistic regression was used to determine the predictive validity of the YLS/CMI and the individual contribution of static and dynamic domains of the assessment. Results indicated that the static domain differentially predicted recidivism for Black and White youth. In particular, the static domain was a significant predictor of recidivism for White youth, but this was not the case for Black youth. The dynamic domain significantly predicted recidivism for both Black and White offenders, and static risk factors improved prediction of recidivism for White youth, but not for Black youth.

Differential Item Functioning in Reports of Delinquent Behavior between Black and White Youth: Evidence of Measurement Bias in Self-Reports of Arrest in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study

Youth self-reports are a mainstay of delinquency assessment. However, making valid inferences about delinquency using these assessments requires equivalent measurement across groups of theoretical interest. We therefore examined whether a brief 10-item delinquency measure exhibited measurement invariance across non-Hispanic White (n=6064) and Black (n=1666) youth (ages 10-11 years old) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We detected differential item functioning (DIF) in two items. Overall, Black youth were more likely to report being arrested or picked up by police than White youth of equivalent standing on the latent delinquency trait. Although multiple covariates (income, impulsivity, and callous-unemotional traits) reduced mean-level difference in overall delinquency, they had little effect on the DIF in the arrest item. However, the DIF in the arrest item was reduced in size and no longer significant after adjusting for neighborhood safety. Results illustrate the importance of considering measurement invariance when using self-reported delinquency scores to draw inferences about group differences, and the utility of measurement invariance analyses for identifying etiological mechanisms that may contribute to group differences.

Assessing preparation for care transition among adolescents with rheumatologic disease: a single-center assessment with patient survey

Background Despite the risk for poor outcomes and gaps in care in the transfer from pediatric to adult care, most pediatric rheumatology centers lack formal transition pathways. As a first step in designing a pathway, we evaluated preparation for transition in a single-center cohort of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with rheumatologic conditions using the ADolescent Assessment of Preparation for Transition (ADAPT) survey. Findings AYA most frequently endorsed receiving counseling on taking charge of their health and remembering to take medications. Less than half reported receiving specific counseling about transferring to an adult provider. AYA with lower education attainment compared with those who had attended some college or higher had lower scores in self-management (1.51 vs 2.52, p = 0.0002), prescription medication counseling (1.96 vs 2.41, p = 0.029), and transfer planning (0.27 vs 1.62, p < 0.001). AYA with a diagnosis of MCTD, Sjögren’s or SLE had higher self-management scores than those with other diagnoses (2.6 vs 1.9; p = 0.048). Non-white youth indicated receiving more thorough medication counseling than white youth (2.71 vs 2.07, p = 0.027). When adjusting for age, educational attainment remained an independent predictor of transfer planning (p = 0.037). AYA with longer duration of seeing their physician had higher transition preparation scores (p = 0.021). Conclusion Few AYA endorsed receiving comprehensive transition counseling, including discussion of transfer planning. Those who were younger and with lower levels of education had lower preparation scores. A long-term relationship with providers was associated with higher scores. Further research, including longitudinal assessment of transition preparation, is needed to evaluate effective processes to assist vulnerable populations.

Gender and Sexual Identity in Adolescence: A Mixed-Methods Study of Labeling in Diverse Community Settings

Understandings of sexual and gender identity have expanded beyond traditional binaries, yet we know little about adolescents’ appropriation of identity labels across diverse communities. In a mixed-methods study of adolescents recruited from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) spaces in communities differing in support of sexual and gender diversity, seven patterns emerged: (a) frequent use of nonbinary gender identity labels (23.9% of survey sample), especially in high-support communities; (b) greater comfort among adolescents assigned female at birth (AFAB) with diverse gender expression, which informants attributed to pressures to conform to compulsive masculinity for boys; (c) frequent use of plurisexual (60.8%) and asexual (9.9%) labels, especially among those AFAB, and discussion of online settings as a resource; (d) intersectional patterning of “queer” to describe sexual identity (12.4% of survey sample), with White youth in high-support communities signifying an intellectual/political stance and non-White youth in low-support communities using queer as an umbrella term; (e) resistance to labeling and ambivalence about labels due to intra-community dynamics; (f) labeling challenges among boys of color; and (g) challenges with stigma, sexualization, and violence for transgender and nonbinary youth. Findings highlight how contemporary adolescents engage with and challenge received conceptions of gender and sexuality and how this process is shaped by intersectional identities.