Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 272, 1 July 2020, Pages 239-248
Journal of Affective Disorders

Research paper
The relationship between early risk-taking behavior and mental health problems among a nationally representative sample of Australian youth

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.04.040Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Risk-taking behaviors are associated with diverse mental health problems, including self-harm.

  • Patterns of risk-outcome relationships are different for males and females.

  • Younger age at initiation of risk-taking behaviors may increase odds of mental health problems.

Abstract

Background

Earlier engagement in risk-taking behaviors has been associated with more severe mental health problems across development. However, sex differences in risk-outcome relationships remain underexplored and mental health outcomes spanning both ends of the internalizing and externalizing spectra are rarely considered within the same sample. The present study examined associations between age at initiation of alcohol use, illicit drug use, and sexual intercourse, and symptoms of internalizing, externalizing, depression and self-harm, for males and females.

Methods

The present study analyzed self-report survey data from a nationally representative sample of Australian adolescents (N=2,950). Logistic regression models were conducted separately for males and females to test the association of early (age 15 or younger) and concurrent (age 16–17) initiation of alcohol use, illicit drug use and sexual behavior with symptoms of internalizing, externalizing, depression and self-harm at age 16–17.

Results

Risk-taking behaviors were associated with all mental health outcomes. Generally, earlier initiation of risk-taking behaviors demonstrated stronger associations with mental health outcomes than concurrent initiation. Associations between risk-taking behaviors and mental health outcomes varied by participant sex and mental health outcome.

Limitations

Mechanisms underlying the relationship between risk-taking behaviors and mental health problems were not tested and the sample had not yet reached early adulthood.

Conclusions

Risk-taking behaviors, particularly when initiated early, share links with multiple mental health problems in adolescence. Public health strategies to delay the onset of risk-taking behaviors may therefore incur multiple benefits as might an integrated approach to mental health prevention programs for youth.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

The present sample was drawn from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a nationally representative study of child development and well-being (Soloff et al., 2005). Soloff et al. (2005) published a detailed description of the study design. The present study examines a subsample of the older of two independent LSAC cohorts, known as the Kindergarten cohort (K cohort; N=4983) who were between 4 and 5 years old during the first wave of data collection in

Results

Prevalence rates for each of the four outcome variables at wave 7 (age 16–17) are presented in Table 3, separately by participant sex. Females reported high levels of internalizing symptoms (29.9%), and self-harm (16.1%) at more than twice the rate of males (13.8% and 6.1%, respectively). Almost half of all females (49.4%) met the threshold for significant depressive symptoms, with a large proportion of males (33%) also meeting this threshold. One in 10 males (10.9%) exhibited high levels of

Discussion

The present study examined associations between age of initiation of risk-taking behaviors (alcohol use, illicit drug use and sexual intercourse) and mental health problems (symptoms of internalizing, externalizing, depression and self-harm) at age 16–17, separately by participant sex. Self-harm was considered as an outcome in this context for the first time. The study found that risk-taking behaviors were associated with diverse mental health problems during adolescence, and the presence of

Author contributors

AS conceptualized the research question, co-designed the analysis plan and conducted analyses, led the interpretation of analyses and drafted the manuscript. NN, CC and TS assisted in study conception and analysis plan design. All co-authors assisted with manuscript drafting and interpretation of study results and have approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Declarations of Competing Interest

None.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and the Centre of Research Excellence in Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Illness and Substance Use (PREMISE) via an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence Grant (APP1134909).

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