Kathryn Higgins

Confirmatory factor analysis of the adolescent self-report strengths and difficulties questionnaire

Abstract. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used 25-item screening test for emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents. This study attempted to critically examine the factor structure of the adolescent self-report version. As part of an ongoing longitudinal cohort study, a total of 3,753 pupils completed the SDQ when aged 12. Both three- and five-factor exploratory factor analysis models were estimated. A number of deviations from the hypothesized SDQ structure were observed, including a lack of unidimensionality within particular subscales, cross-loadings, and items failing to load on any factor. Model fit of the confirmatory factor analysis model was modest, providing limited support for the hypothesized five-component structure. The analyses suggested a number of weaknesses within the component structure of the self-report SDQ, particularly in relation to the reverse-coded items.

Exclusion and Marginalisation in Adolescence: The Experience of School Exclusion on Drug Use and Antisocial Behaviour

Young people excluded from school are a group at an increased risk of drug use and antisocial behaviour during adolescence and later marginalisation and exclusion from society in adulthood. As part of the Belfast Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study of the onset and development of adolescent drug use, young people who entered post-primary school in 2000 (aged 11/12 years) were surveyed annually on four occasions. This paper reports on findings from this survey in relation to a supplementary group of young people who were surveyed because they had been excluded from school. The findings show higher levels of drug use and antisocial behaviour among school excludees, lower levels of communication with their parents/guardians, higher levels of contact with the criminal justice system and increased likelihood of living in communities characterised with neighbourhood disorganisation. This lifestyle perhaps suggests these young people are leading a life that is already taking them towards the margins of society.

Substance Use Behaviours of Young People with A Moderate Learning Disability: A longitudinal analysis

Substance use behaviors of young people attending a special school are reported over a 4-year period from the age of 12–16 years. The article investigated these behaviors by surveying a cohort of young people with a statement for moderate learning disabilities annually during the last 4 years of compulsory schooling. The findings show that these young people consistently reported lower levels of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis use compared with those attending mainstream school. No other illicit drug use was reported. The potential implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the context and timing of targeted substance education and prevention initiatives for young people with moderate learning disability attending a special school.

The Cost of Drug Use in Adolescence: Young People, Money and Substance Abuse.

It is now common for young people in full-time compulsory education to hold part-time jobs. However, while the 1990s experienced a rise in illicit drug use particularly among young people and an increase in the level of interest in identifying factors associated with drug use, little attention has been paid to the influence of the money young people have to spend and its potential links with drug use. Four thousand five hundred and twenty-four young people living in Northern Ireland completed a questionnaire in school year 10 (aged 13/14 years). The findings suggested that there was a positive association between the amount of money young people received (and its source) and higher rates of drug use. The study concludes that money, and how it is spent by young people, may be an important factor for consideration when investigating drug use during adolescence. The findings may help inform drug prevention strategies, particularly through advice on money management, and taking responsibility for their own money.

Does Ulster still say no? Drugs, politics and propaganda in Northern Ireland

Considerable emphasis has been placed in Northern Ireland as elsewhere upon providing an estimate of the prevalence and pattern of drug misuse, yet despite the importance of this information, a less than adequate picture has emerged. In this paper, divided into three sections, we attempt to layout and explore the assemblage of factors influencing drug misuse in Northern Ireland and subsequently our knowledge of it. In the first section we endeavor to demonstrate that drug use, distribution, and policy cannot be examined in isolation from the politics and practices of the protagonists to the conflict in Northern Ireland. In the second we critically review existing data on drug misuse ranging from the various public health and law enforcement indicators through to the limited emprical research avaliable. The final section makes urgent calls for quality research in Northern Ireland that would be instrumental in influencing effective drug policy and practice.

Adolescent Substance abuse among young people excluded from school in Belfast

The lifestyles of young people excluded from school have received much attention recently, particularly in relation to illicit drug use. Commentators have acknowledged that they constitute a high-risk group to social disaffection and substance abuse. This paper reports on a group of 48 young people living in Belfast aged 13–14 years who are considered to be at a particularly high risk to substance abuse because they are excluded from school. The evidence in this paper suggests that many are already exhibiting potentially high-risk behaviours to problem drug use compared with their contemporaries in mainstream education. This paper examines the evidence within the context of a limited existing literature base on this group of young people. It suggests that a more focused approach is required for the development of appropriate drug-prevention strategies to meet their needs.

The Trouble with Peace: The Cease-Fires and their Impact on Drug Use among Youth in Northern Ireland

The cease-fires of 1994 marked the transition of Northern Ireland toward peace. Local media, public perception, and claims by “drug authorities” suggest an increase in drug use subsequent to the cease-fires. This article suggests that social problems in Northern Ireland must be understood in the context of wider political conflict and that the conflict affects all social phenomena. Therefore, the extent and patterning of drug use in young people in Northern Ireland are explored, linked to the major cease-fires. The historical influences of the key paramilitary groups are outlined in relation to their drug ideologies. Media and professional perceptions are examined alongside available evidence constructed from multiple indicators of drug use. Our review of the evidence suggests that it is incorrect to assume that most drug use has increased since the cease-fires. One notable exception to that general conclusion is that a heroin scene may be developing in Northern Ireland.

Family Support – Linking Project Evaluation to Policy Analysis

Questioning family support family support as policy and practice challenge developing a methodology for researching family support necessary organization appropriate needs services and intervention questions and answers - an agenda.

Substance Use among Young People Living in Residential State Care

Existing empirical evidence on substance use among young people living in residential state care during adolescence is comparatively limited. This paper reports on substance use trends of young people living in residential state care during three annual data-sweeps when aged 14, 15 and 16 years. A repeated cross-sectional research design was utilised in the research. The findings suggest some similarities for lifetime prevalence rates for tobacco and alcohol use for those living in residential state care with a group of same-age young people not living in residential state care who participated in the research. However, solvent abuse and cannabis use was higher among those living in care. More frequent substance use was reported by the residential care sample for all substances at each stage of the study. These findings suggest that young people living in state care continue to merit higher levels of vigilance from researchers and policy-makers in order to fully understand this behaviour and develop appropriate prevention initiatives to meet their needs regarding potential drug problems.

Drug use amongst young people attending emotional and behavioural difficulty units during adolescence: a longitudinal analysis

This paper reports on the findings from a longitudinal survey of the drug use behaviours of young people who were attending Emotional and Behavioural Difficulty (EBD) units from the age of 11–16 years. It forms part of the Belfast Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study of adolescent drug use. This paper presents a follow‐up report to a cross‐sectional paper that reported on drug use behaviours of a sample of young people attending EBD units when aged 12–13 years at school (Year 9). In the present paper, reported drug use and behaviours associated with increased risk of its use between the ages of 11 and 16 years were examined. The findings show that those attending EBD units consistently reported higher levels of licit and illicit drug use throughout adolescence. Compared with young people in mainstream school, higher levels of behaviours associated with drug use including antisocial behaviour, disaffection with school, and poor communication with their parents/guardians were noted. These findings have implications for the development and timing of targeted prevention initiatives for young people attending EBD units at all stages of adolescent development.