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The Multilevel Structure of Four Adolescent Problems

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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.

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Notes

  1. 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.

  2. 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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Acknowledegments

For their contributions to the data collection, entry, and management of this study, we thank Lisa James, Helen Kuo, Myeba Mindlin, and Carol Black. We also thank the State of Oregon and specifically Mike Stark, Kathy Pickle, Ginny Ehrlich for their support. Finally, we greatly appreciate the participation hundreds of Oregon schools, without which this manuscript would be impossible. NCI Grant Number CA8616 supported preparation of this paper.

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  1. Oregon Research Institute, 1715 Franklin Boulevard, Eugene, Oregon, 97403-1983, USA

    Keith Smolkowski, Anthony Biglan, Clyde Dent & John Seeley

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  1. Keith Smolkowski
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  2. Anthony Biglan
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  3. Clyde Dent
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  4. John Seeley
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Correspondence to Keith Smolkowski.

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Smolkowski, K., Biglan, A., Dent, C. et al. The Multilevel Structure of Four Adolescent Problems. Prev Sci 7, 239–256 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-006-0034-5

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