From Neuroscience To Justice: Examining The Intersections Of Mental Health, Substance Use, And Delinquency In Youth

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel examines mental health and substance use needs of youth in the juvenile justice system and the developmental, neurobiological, and environmental factors that may contribute to those needs. The first presentation highlights preliminary findings from a study funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to assess the prevalence of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders among youth in juvenile residential facilities in three states and the facilities’ assessment and diagnoses processes. The next three presentations showcase findings from an NIJ-funded five-site sub-study of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study—funded by the National Institutes of Health—that examines delinquency, victimization, dispositional and protective factors, real life and online activities, and elements linking substance use, delinquency, and victimization to brain development. Presentations from this study will describe how youths’ victimization experiences affect callous-unemotional traits that are associated with antisocial behaviors and conduct problems; how parenting practices and emotional regulations have sex-specific effects on social aggression; and how parental incarceration affects mental and behavioral health outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Area IV. Correlates of Crime / 23. Trauma and Mental Health

Individual Presentations

• Prevalence Estimation of Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Youth in Juvenile Residential Facilities - Will Engelhardt, Urban Institute; Ashlin Oglesby-Neal, Urban Institute; Sarah Aukamp, Urban Institute; Mary Hayford, Urban Institute

• Risk, Regulation, and Relationships: Understanding Youth Aggression in Online and Offline Contexts - Emalee Dauginikas, University of Pittsburgh; Douglas Fitzgeral, University of Pittsburgh; Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh

• Adolescent Victimization as a Moderator of Early Frontolimbic Connectivity and Later Callous-Unemotional Traits - Rowan Moore, Yale University; Rebecca Brady, Yale University; Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Yale University; Anna Goyette, Yale University

• Unpacking the Features and Context of Parent Incarceration: Implications for Youth Mental and Behavioral Health - Luke Muentner, RTI International; Dylan B. Jackson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Rebecca Shlafer, University of Minnesota; Elizabeth I. Johnson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Kaylee Klingensmith, University of Pittsburgh; Alexander Testa, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh

Chair

• Lia Ahonen, University of Pittsburgh

Discussant

• Linda A. Teplin, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University