Dembo Richard, Wareham Jennifer, Schmeidler James, Briones-Robinson Rhissa, Winters Ken C
Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
J Behav Health Serv Res. 2016 Jul;43(3):402-27. doi: 10.1007/s11414-014-9435-6.
Research indicates at-risk youth are more likely to experience emotional and psychological problems. Young people who are often truant from school represent a group of at-risk youth, but one for which mental health issues are understudied. This study examined heterogeneity of mental health problems among a sample of 300 truant adolescents using latent class analysis (LCA). LCA indicated the sample of truants was best represented by four latent subgroups of youth with low mental health problems; high depression, low mania; high mania, low depression; and high depression and mania. These subgroups were examined in relation to sociodemographic and psychosocial measures at baseline and after truancy offenses. Results indicated general and unique differences in these covariates across the four latent classes. Service and practice implications of better understanding mental health issues of truant youth are discussed.
研究表明，高危青少年更有可能经历情绪和心理问题。经常逃学的年轻人是高危青少年群体的一部分，但针对这一群体的心理健康问题研究不足。本研究使用潜在类别分析（LCA）对300名逃学青少年样本中的心理健康问题异质性进行了研究。LCA表明，逃学样本最好由四个潜在亚组来代表：心理健康问题较少的青少年；高抑郁、低躁狂；高躁狂、低抑郁；以及高抑郁和高躁狂。在基线和逃学违规行为发生后，对这些亚组与社会人口统计学和心理社会指标进行了相关性研究。结果表明，这四个潜在类别在这些协变量方面存在总体差异和独特差异。文中还讨论了更好地了解逃学青少年心理健康问题对服务和实践的影响。
