BACKGROUND: Adolescents with juvenile legal system contact face numerous barriers to participation in behavioral health intervention research, including housing disruption, legal privacy concerns, and systems mistrust. Technology, such as social media, may be a novel and developmentally appropriate adolescent research study engagement and retention tool. OBJECTIVE: We examined data on social media information collected for study retention purposes from adolescents participating in a substance use intervention trial. METHODS: Data were collected as part of a randomized controlled trial determining efficacy of a group-based substance use intervention for girls and young women (12-24 years) with substance use histories referred from legal and school systems in the United States. Baseline demographic and social media information was analyzed from the subset of 114 adolescent girls (mean age 15.7 years; range 13-18 years), of whom 31.6% (36/114) were legally involved, 87.7% (100/114) belonged to minoritized racial/ethnic groups, and 32.5% (37/114) received public assistance. RESULTS: Most girls (74/114, 64.9%) provided at least one social media account (Instagram, 95% [70/74]; Facebook, 27% [20/74]; and Twitter, 11% [8/74]) during study enrollment. Legally involved girls were significantly less likely to provide social media information than school-referred girls (44% [16/36] versus 74% [58/78]; χ21 [N=114]=9.68, P=.002). CONCLUSIONS: Obtaining social media information for study retention purposes from adolescent girls with lifetime substance use appears possible; however, particular subgroups (ie, legally involved girls) may be less likely to provide accounts. Factors shaping legally involved girls willingness to provide social media information, including mistrust and privacy concerns, and the impact of researchers access to social media information on study retention are critical directions for future research. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02293057; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02293057.

Court-involved youth exhibit high rates of psychiatric symptoms, substance use, and delinquency, yet little is known about the contributing roles of caregiver and family factors. The current study examined whether family functioning and parental monitoring mediate the relationship between caregiver and youth psychiatric symptoms (at first court contact) and youth substance use and delinquency (two years later). Participants were 400 first-time offending court-involved youth (M_age = 14.5 years; 57.3% male; 45.6% non-Latinx White, 42.0% Latinx) and an involved caregiver (M_age = 41.0 years; 87.2% female; 53.0% non-Latinx White, 33.8% Latinx). Structural equation modeling revealed that caregiver and youth psychiatric symptoms were prospectively associated with worse family functioning, which was in turn related to higher levels of youth delinquency and greater likelihood of substance use. The results support the notion of addressing the needs of justice-involved youth and families holistically rather than treating youth as "the problem" in isolation.

OBJECTIVE: Justice-involved youth report high rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; abuse, neglect, household dysfunction) and are at high risk for elevated behavioral health needs (i.e., substance use, psychiatric symptoms). Research with broad samples of adolescents shows ACEs predict behavioral health outcomes, yet most research on the impact of ACEs among justice-involved youth focuses on recidivism. The present study addresses this gap by examining the prospective association between ACEs and psychiatric symptoms, substance use, and substance-related problems (i.e., consequences of use) among first-time justice-involved youth. METHOD: First-time justice-involved youth (n = 271; 54.3% male; M age = 14.5 years; 43.5% Latinx; non-Latinx: 34.2% White, 8.6% Black, 7.1% Other, 6.7% Multiracial) and their caregivers were assessed at youths first court contact and 4- and 12-month follow-ups. Youth and caregivers reported youths exposure to ACEs through a series of instruments at baseline and 4-months (e.g., Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short-Form; Traumatic Life Events Inventory). Primary outcomes included youth alcohol and cannabis use (Adolescent Risk Behavior Assessment), consequences of use (Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire; Brief Marijuana Consequences Scale), and psychiatric symptoms (Behavior Assessment System for Children; National Stressful Events Survey PTSD Short Scale). RESULTS: Youth were exposed to three ACEs, on average, prior to first justice contact (M = 3). Exposure to more ACEs, particularly abuse, predicted substance use and psychiatric outcomes. Gender differences emerged for cannabis use and internalizing symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for trauma-responsive juvenile justice reform are discussed, including screening for ACEs and their sequelae at first court contact and considering the role of masculine norms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A growing body of literature has documented high rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their effects on behavioral health among adolescents impacted by the juvenile legal system. Most research with justice-impacted youth assesses the ten standard ACEs, encompassing abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. This body of work has largely ignored the five expanded ACEs which assess social and community level adversity. Justice-impacted youth commonly experience expanded ACEs (racial discrimination, placement in foster care, living in a disadvantaged neighborhood, witnessing violence, bullying), and inclusion of these adversities may enhance predictive utility of the commonly used ACEs score. The current study examined the prospective impact of total ACEs (standard and expanded) on alcohol and cannabis use, substance-related consequences, and psychiatric symptoms during the year following first ever contact with the juvenile court. Results indicate justice-impacted youth experience multiple expanded ACEs prior to first court contact. The expanded ACEs did not predict any of the behavioral health outcomes assessed, over and above the standard ACEs. Inclusion of expanded ACEs in the standard ACEs score may not increase utility in identifying prospective behavioral health outcomes among youth in first time contact with the juvenile legal system.