Trajectories of Sensation Seeking among Puerto Rican Children and Youth

OBJECTIVE:

To document the natural course of sensation seeking from childhood to adolescence, characterize distinct sensation seeking trajectories, and examine how these trajectories vary according to selected predictors.

METHOD:

Data were obtained from the Boricua Youth Study, a longitudinal study of 2,491 children and adolescents of Puerto Rican background (3 assessments from 2000 to 2004). First, age-specific sensation seeking levels were characterized, and then age-adjusted residuals were analyzed using growth mixture models.

RESULTS:

On average, sensation seeking was stable in childhood (ages 5-10 years) and increased during adolescence (ages 11-17 years). Mean scores of sensation seeking were higher in the South Bronx versus Puerto Rico and among males versus females. Four classes of sensation seeking trajectories were observed: most study participants had age-expected sensation seeking trajectories following the average for their age ("normative," 43.8%); others (37.2%) remained consistently lower than the expected average for their age ("low" sensation seeking); some (12.0%) had an "accelerated" sensation seeking trajectory, increasing at a faster rate than expected; and a minority (7.0%) had a decreasing sensation seeking trajectory that started high but decreased, reaching scores slightly higher than the age-average sensation seeking scores ("stabilizers"). Site (South Bronx versus Puerto Rico) and gender were predictors of membership in a specific class of sensation seeking trajectory.

CONCLUSION:

It is important to take a developmental approach when examining sensation seeking and to consider gender and the social environment when trying to understand how sensation seeking evolves during childhood and adolescence.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/jdKSe2

By:  Martins SS1, Wall MM2, Eisenberg R2, Blanco C2, Santaella J3, Ramos-Olazagasti M2, Canino G4, Bird HR2, Brown Q3, Duarte CS2.

• 1Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York. Electronic address: ssm2183@columbia.edu.
• 2Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York.
• 3Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York.
• 4Behavioral Sciences Research Institute, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan.

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

And:        http://twitter.com/Prison_Health