Understanding the ecological context of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems: A person-centered approach

The social/environmental context of youth is important for mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health. This study used person-oriented methods to examine the influences of family, neighborhood, and poverty on late adolescent MEB outcomes.

Latent class analysis was used to discern significant clusters of at-risk, diverse young men (N = 625) based on contextual factors; differences in MEB outcomes were examined.

Four classes emerged. Resourced and Protected youth had low risk across all indicators. Non-resourced and Protected youth lived in poverty, poor neighborhoods, but had good parenting; despite low delinquency, substance use was elevated. Resourced but High Risk youth had negative parenting but good neighborhoods. Outcomes included elevated delinquency and mental health problems. Non-resourced and High Risk youth were poor, lived in bad neighborhoods, and experienced abusive parenting; MEB outcomes were poor.

Findings confirm the unique effects that negative parenting, neighborhoods, and poverty have on adolescent development. Implications are discussed.