Screening for Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Preliminary Evidence for a Family Functioning Tool.

Fernandez, Alejandra; Lozano, Alyssa; Lee, Tae Kyoung; Prado, Guillermo

Background: Family functioning is associated with adolescent drug use, alcohol use, cigarette use, and sexual risk behaviors. Assessing adolescents for family functioning, commonly associated with multiple risk behaviors, may help identify adolescents at risk for adverse health outcomes. This study examined whether a latent family functioning construct, encompassing multiple dimensions of family functioning, was associated with adolescents' substance use and sexual risk behaviors. Method: This study used data harmonization with three intervention trials, including data from 1451 adolescents (M = 13.6, SD = 1.0), to perform a full-information item bifactor analysis on 46 family functioning items from five pre-existing family functioning measures. Regression analysis was used to examine the association between the identified subset of items and the following outcomes: cigarette use, alcohol use, drug use, and condom use. Results: Bifactor analysis identified a 26-item latent family functioning construct. Regression analysis indicated that a 26-item latent family functioning construct was associated negatively with lifetime and past 90-day cigarette use, alcohol use, and drug use. Conclusion: In sum, the multi-dimensional latent family functioning construct may target specific barriers to risk screening in adolescent populations, including time constraint, hesitancy in discussing sensitive health topics, and use culturally appropriate and age-appropriate assessments.

SUBSTANCE abuse risk factors; RISK assessment; RISK-taking behavior; RESEARCH funding; SMOKING; FAMILY relations; MEDICAL screening; ALCOHOL drinking; FACTOR analysis; REGRESSION analysis; ADOLESCENCE

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2024, Vol 31, Issue 5, p669

1070-5503

Academic Journal

10.1007/s12529-023-10209-7