Poster #177 - Risk Seeking: Mediating Roles of Personal Mastery and Depressive Symptoms

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Adolescence is a time of transformation where risk seeking attitudes may be emerging (Harden & Tucker-Drob, 2011). Risk seeking attitudes are an attraction to possibly risky behaviors (Raffaelli & Crockett, 2003). Financial strain and neighborhood problems have been previously linked to these risk seeking attitudes (Andreas, & Watson, 2016; Worthy, Jonkman & Blinn-Pike, 2010). Depressive symptoms and personal mastery may serve as possible mediators of the relations between financial strain and neighborhood problems and risk seeking attitudes. Personal mastery has been previously examined as a mediator of life stressors such as financial strain on health (Pudrovska, Schieman, Pearlin, Nguyen, 2005).
The current study assessed whether depressive symptoms and feelings of personal mastery mediated the relations between neighborhood problems and financial strain on risk seeking attitudes in adolescence (ages 15 to 18) and emerging adulthood (ages 19 to 21). Structural equation modeling was conducted in Stata using data from participants (N=6,497) from the 2000 to 2016 waves of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, Children and Young Adults. Multigroup analysis was conducted by race [i.e., Black (n = 1,966), Hispanic (n = 1,429), and Non-Black, Non-Hispanic (n = 3,102)] to determine if the model was the same across groups. Covariates included mothers’ education and total household income.
Results indicated significant direct effects of depressive symptoms (p<.001) and personal mastery (p <.001) on adolescent risk seeking attitudes for all groups. The direct effect of financial strain was only significant for African Americans (b =.04, p<.05) and the direct effect of neighborhood problems was only significant for Hispanic (b =-.11, p=.002) and Non-Hispanic, Non-Black (b=-.15, p<.001) for adolescent risk seeking attitudes. Further, adolescent risk seeking attitudes were significantly related to emerging adulthood risk seeking attitudes for all groups (p<.001).
The indirect effect from financial strain to adolescent risk seeking behaviors was significant for all groups indicating partial mediation for African Americans (b=.04, p<.001) and full mediation for Hispanic (b=.03, p<.001) and Non-Black, Non-Hispanic individuals (b=.05, p<.001). The indirect effect from neighborhood problems to adolescent risk seeking behaviors was also significant for all groups indicating partial mediation for Hispanic (b=-.03, p=.001) and Non-Black, Non-Hispanic Americans (b= -.08, p<.001) and full mediation for African Americans (b= -.03, p<.001). For risk seeking attitudes in emerging adulthood (i.e., during ages 19 to 21) there were indirect effects through adolescent risk taking for depression and personal mastery for all groups (p<.001). There were also indirect effects of financial strain for African Americans (b=.03, p<.001) and Non-Black, Non-Hispanic Americans (b=.02, p=.002) and neighborhood problems for Hispanic (b=-.06, p<.001) and Non-Black, Non-Hispanic Americans (b=12, p<.001) on risk seeking attitudes in emerging adulthood.
Understanding the processes underlying risk seeking attitudes is important as they have been found to lead to actual risk taking behavior (Andreas, & Watson, 2016). Adolescents’ environmental stressors may contribute to risk seeking in both adolescence and emerging adulthood by decreasing feelings of mastery and increasing depressive symptoms. Future studies may focus on whether changes in depressive symptoms and mastery are related to subsequent changes in risk seeking.

Authors

• Kathleen Holloway, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Fatima varner, University of Texas at Austin
  Non-Presenting Author