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01-09-2006 | Original Paper

The Multilevel Structure of Four Adolescent Problems

Authors: Keith Smolkowski, Anthony Biglan, Clyde Dent, John Seeley

Published in: Prevention Science | Issue 3/2006

Abstract

This paper examines variability in adolescent self-reported behavior at the individual, cohort, and school levels for 8th and 11th graders. We examine four adolescent behaviors: substance use, antisocial behavior, depression, and academic performance. Research staff collected the data as part of the Oregon Healthy Teens survey of a population-based sample of 60,837 adolescents over three years in 92 communities. The results indicate that schools vary over time, but not necessarily systematically, and grade-level cohorts account for important variance within schools. The school and cohort combined, however, accounted for at most 4% of the overall variance. The results have implications for research and practice in schools and communities. For example, selection of communities for interventions based on high levels of adolescent problems may be unproductive if individuals account for at least 96% of the variance. Furthermore, in non-experimental designs, cohort variability, not an intervention, may account for apparent improvement across years.

The pattern of results for drugs used and antisocial behavior were nearly identical to those of log transformations of the variables. We presented the results from the untransformed variables to aid interpretability.

We compared variance estimates between the FIML and REML estimates. The differences in school-level variance estimates were negligible and would not have changed our interpretation.

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Title: The Multilevel Structure of Four Adolescent Problems
Authors: Keith Smolkowski
Anthony Biglan
Clyde Dent
John Seeley
Publication date: 01-09-2006
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science / Issue 3/2006
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-006-0034-5

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

The Multilevel Structure of Four Adolescent Problems

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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