Community Violence Predicting Opioid Use Among Justice-involved Adolescents
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Mentor Information
Dr. Micah E. Johnson
Description
Opioid use remains a top public health concern in the U.S., especially for adolescents. Recent studies have identified various environmental factors that predict adolescent opioid use. However, there is little research assessing exposure to community violence as a risk factor for adolescent opioid use. Justice-involved adolescents (JIA) are particularly vulnerable to exposure to community violence and risk of substance use yet remain largely understudied. The current study examines the relationship between community violence and opioid use among a sample of JIA. This study utilized data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ). Data was collected from youth (n = 79,960) who entered the FLDJJ from 2005 to 2015 using the Residential Positive Achievement Change Tool (R-PACT), an assessment used to analyze potential risks of re-offense. A multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios measuring the association between exposure to community violence as a predictor of opioid misuse. Results show that JIA who have witnessed/experienced community violence had significantly greater odds of using opioids (aOR = 2.27, p<0.01) compared to JIA who did not experience community violence. These findings align with previous literature regarding community violence and reinforce the need to research the JIA population further. Future research can apply these findings to environmental risk factors involving opioid use while adding new variables to explain the relationship between both variables.
Community Violence Predicting Opioid Use Among Justice-involved Adolescents
Opioid use remains a top public health concern in the U.S., especially for adolescents. Recent studies have identified various environmental factors that predict adolescent opioid use. However, there is little research assessing exposure to community violence as a risk factor for adolescent opioid use. Justice-involved adolescents (JIA) are particularly vulnerable to exposure to community violence and risk of substance use yet remain largely understudied. The current study examines the relationship between community violence and opioid use among a sample of JIA. This study utilized data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ). Data was collected from youth (n = 79,960) who entered the FLDJJ from 2005 to 2015 using the Residential Positive Achievement Change Tool (R-PACT), an assessment used to analyze potential risks of re-offense. A multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios measuring the association between exposure to community violence as a predictor of opioid misuse. Results show that JIA who have witnessed/experienced community violence had significantly greater odds of using opioids (aOR = 2.27, p<0.01) compared to JIA who did not experience community violence. These findings align with previous literature regarding community violence and reinforce the need to research the JIA population further. Future research can apply these findings to environmental risk factors involving opioid use while adding new variables to explain the relationship between both variables.
