Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.

<h4>Background</h4>Identifying underlying subgroups might be a way to examine the development of co-occurrent substance use and delinquency. The aim of this study was to identify latent classes of substance misuse and delinquency in adolescence and which general risk factors are associat...

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Main Authors: Clas Björklund, Fredrik Sivertsson, Jonas Landberg, Jonas Raninen, Peter Larm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322515
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author Clas Björklund
Fredrik Sivertsson
Jonas Landberg
Jonas Raninen
Peter Larm
author_facet Clas Björklund
Fredrik Sivertsson
Jonas Landberg
Jonas Raninen
Peter Larm
author_sort Clas Björklund
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Identifying underlying subgroups might be a way to examine the development of co-occurrent substance use and delinquency. The aim of this study was to identify latent classes of substance misuse and delinquency in adolescence and which general risk factors are associated with these classes.<h4>Methods</h4>Data of two waves from a national representative Swedish birth cohort was used that consisted of 4,013 randomly selected adolescents (Male = 1,798, Female = 2,201, Missing = 14) Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of substance misuse and delinquency at age 17/18 and. logistic regression analysis was used to assess risk factors at age 15/16.<h4>Results</h4>Identified classes were: "Low/abstainers" (74.80%, n = 2858, Male = 1191 Female = 1656, Missing = 11) which acted as reference, "Alcohol only" (22.21%, n = 849, Male = 420, Female = 426, Missing = 3), "Polydrug use and crime" (2.15%, n = 82, Male = 52, Female = 30) and "High crime" (0.84%, n = 32, Male = 30, Females = 2). Factors associated with belonging to any classes engaging in substance use and delinquency were lower parental support, supervision, peer problems, and higher conduct problems, sensation-seeking behavior, distrust in society, and truancy.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Most people did not engage in substance use or delinquency. When accounting for less frequent behaviors such as normative adolescent drinking and one-time events of crime and drug use, about 3% of the population engaged in co-occurring substance use and delinquency. Several different factors from several domains where related to belonging to a class that used substances and/or engaged in delinquency. There were indications that the most extensive users and offender displayed a wide variety of severe level risk factors, which could have implications for targeted interventions. Though, statistical power was a problem and future research should use larger samples or alternative methods.
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spelling doaj-art-6ebb452a39f74c7ba5a8fbb335f605c42025-08-20T03:12:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01205e032251510.1371/journal.pone.0322515Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.Clas BjörklundFredrik SivertssonJonas LandbergJonas RaninenPeter Larm<h4>Background</h4>Identifying underlying subgroups might be a way to examine the development of co-occurrent substance use and delinquency. The aim of this study was to identify latent classes of substance misuse and delinquency in adolescence and which general risk factors are associated with these classes.<h4>Methods</h4>Data of two waves from a national representative Swedish birth cohort was used that consisted of 4,013 randomly selected adolescents (Male = 1,798, Female = 2,201, Missing = 14) Latent class analysis was used to identify classes of substance misuse and delinquency at age 17/18 and. logistic regression analysis was used to assess risk factors at age 15/16.<h4>Results</h4>Identified classes were: "Low/abstainers" (74.80%, n = 2858, Male = 1191 Female = 1656, Missing = 11) which acted as reference, "Alcohol only" (22.21%, n = 849, Male = 420, Female = 426, Missing = 3), "Polydrug use and crime" (2.15%, n = 82, Male = 52, Female = 30) and "High crime" (0.84%, n = 32, Male = 30, Females = 2). Factors associated with belonging to any classes engaging in substance use and delinquency were lower parental support, supervision, peer problems, and higher conduct problems, sensation-seeking behavior, distrust in society, and truancy.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Most people did not engage in substance use or delinquency. When accounting for less frequent behaviors such as normative adolescent drinking and one-time events of crime and drug use, about 3% of the population engaged in co-occurring substance use and delinquency. Several different factors from several domains where related to belonging to a class that used substances and/or engaged in delinquency. There were indications that the most extensive users and offender displayed a wide variety of severe level risk factors, which could have implications for targeted interventions. Though, statistical power was a problem and future research should use larger samples or alternative methods.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322515
spellingShingle Clas Björklund
Fredrik Sivertsson
Jonas Landberg
Jonas Raninen
Peter Larm
Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
PLoS ONE
title Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
title_full Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
title_fullStr Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
title_full_unstemmed Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
title_short Latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a Swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors.
title_sort latent classes of substance use and delinquency in a swedish national sample of adolescents and associated risk factors
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322515
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