Predicting Problem Behaviour in Adolescence: An Integration of Problem Behaviour Theory and the Social Development Model

Adolescence is an important developmental stage of life where individuals are going through a number of social, emotional and physical changes. During this life stage, a small subset of individuals may begin to engage in problem behaviours. Engagement in problem behaviour can lead to a number of undesirable short and long-term health consequences, therefore accurate identification of the adolescents who are at the greatest risk of poor health outcomes is crucial. Problem behaviour theory (PBT) suggests that problem behaviours tend to occur simultaneously in adolescence due to the presence of a single underlying factor. The first aim of our study was to extend on previous literature by investigating patterns of engagement in a range of problem behaviours using latent class analysis (LCA). The second aim of our study was to predict membership in the different classes of behaviour using key variables from the Social Development Model (SDM), which incorporates concepts from Social Learning Theory, Social Control Theory, and Differential Association Theory to predict engagement in both prosocial and antisocial behaviours. Participants from a large state representative sample in Victoria, Australia filled out an adaptation of the Communities that Care Youth Survey containing questions pertaining to substance use, antisocial behaviour and sexual practice, as well as measures of low school commitment, poor parental monitoring, and friends’ use of drugs. Four latent classes were uncovered in the LCA. Classes 1 (low engagement) and 2 (high engagement) were as hypothesised, and classes 3 (experimental engagement) and 4 (violent engagement) were results of an exploratory analysis. The relationships between the predictor variables and the problem behaviour classes were as predicted, where lower school commitment, poorer parental monitoring, and a higher number of friends who used drugs was predictive of higher levels of engagement in problem behaviour. The theoretical and practical implications for these findings are discussed