Presentation Information
[O-8-06]Applying Network Analysis to Understand Youth Risky Behavior as a System
*Abdurosid Nur Ali, Sherly Saragih Turnip (Research of Community Mental Health Initiative(Indonesia))
Keywords:
behavior difficulties,youth risky behavior,suicide ideation,longitudinal,network analysis
Prevalence of risky behavior engagement by youth still rising. This kind of behavior also likely to pushing the ideation of suicide and planned suicide within youth. Mental health condition such as loneliness, anxiety, difficulties, and peer problems will likely predict youth conduct problems. Various youth risky behavior such as substance use, risky driving, unsafe sexual intercourse, aggression, and peer victimization increasing substantially. However, the contribution of age predictors is still uncertain and there is intercorrelation between youth risk behaviors. This study still limited in developed country, such as Indonesia. Despite rapid economic changes, mental health issues in youth remain overlooked. By understanding the intercorrelation strength between variables, we can map stability of pattern and consistency as well as identify initial behavior risk among adolescents. This study uses network analysis to examine teenagers stress symptoms, parent-peer-child relationships, victimization, and suicidal risk contribute to youth risky behavior in Jakarta adolescents (N = 940). We assess central and bridge symptoms and compared network structure longitudinally. We found that the most central bridge symptoms were substance use such as alcohol, behavior difficulty, and suicide ideation. Alcohol consumptions by adolescents and high level of stress and depression were greater prediction of suicide activation. Cigarette uses were connected to many nodes. Mental health factors are clustered together. Behavior risks are also clustered together. There were no differences in network structure through 2017-2019. These findings suggest that alcohol use, having behavior difficulties, and suicide ideation may contribute to the high rates and co-occurrence of risky behavior in adolescence. Based on network theory, these behavior difficulties in adolescent may represent important targets for intervention. Further discussion will address the stability in year one and year two would predict the suicidal occurrence in year three.