Association of Mental Health Symptoms and Peer Behaviors with Risk for Substance Use and Condomless Sex Among Youths in Juvenile Drug Court

ABSTRACT

Juvenile drug courts (JDCs) are a growing response to adolescent substance use, but better understanding of modifiable risk factors is needed to improve JDC outcomes. JDCs also serve dual public health and justice functions, heightening potential impact on co-occurring health factors like risky sex. However, mental health symptoms and peers’ activities may impede JDC effectiveness. In a unique longitudinal sample of 105 adolescents involved in JDCs, we find elevated internalizing symptoms and deviant peer behavior were each associated with increased substance use, with similar effects on risk for condomless sex. Findings inform intervention targets that could maximize JDC programming impact.

KEYWORDS:

• adolescents
• deviant peers
• mental health
• sex
• substance use

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the youths and their family members who participated in the research and made this work possible.

Additional information

Funding

The work reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under awards F31DA044699 and T32DA007292. KAF was supported as a predoctoral Department of Mental Health Scholar, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.