The Mobile Youth and Poverty Study (MYPS) consists of a number of datasets relating to poverty and adolescent risk in the Mobile, AL metropolitan statistical area. Its core dataset is the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS), administered annually to adolescents in impoverished neighborhoods in the Mobile MSA between 1998 and 2011. Its purpose was to examine risk and protective factors associated with substance use and abuse, violence and aggression, and sexual risk behavior among adolescents aged 10-18. Over 12,000 youths enrolled in the MYS, producing nearly 36,000 annual data points.
The MYS was conducted in impoverished neighborhoods each summer by interns recruited from colleges and universities around the country. This created an intensive neighborhood presence which helped to establish trust between residents and researchers and resulted in overall high participation and retention rates. Over time, other studies have been conducted with MYS subsamples, including studies of cognitive processing and decision making, gene-environment effects on mental health and behavior, and sleep. In addition, administrative databases have been accessed to provide additional information about MYS participants, including their school records, juvenile court records, and housing records. A geographical information system has also been established, allowing us to link MYPS data to geographical databases (e.g., U.S. Census, crime reports). |
PublicationsTo date, a number of manuscripts have been published using MYPS data. Since 2001, over 60 manuscripts have been published, with several under review and in development. Additionally 27 students have used MYPS data for theses and dissertations since 2008.
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MeasuresThe MYPS measures risk and protective factors associated with adolescence. Additionally, measures of cognitive achievement, school delinquency, and juvenile court involvement are available. We have data from both surveys of adolescents and caregivers as well as administrative data.
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Data UseThere is a process where by de-identified MYPS data are available to researchers who wish to use these data for school projects, theses and dissertations, manuscripts, conference proposals, and grant proposals.
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Current Projects
Meredith Hoyland, Baylor University
- What patterns of risk factors are associated with trajectories of alcohol and drug use?
- What patterns of protective factors are associated with decreased likelihood of demonstrating risk factor patterns?
Elizabeth Johnson, PhD. and Tanner Kilpatrick, University of Tennesse
- Do stress, worry, and self-worth mediate the relationship between caregiver incarceration and adolescent substance use or future expectations?
- Do youth with incarcerated parents experience different configurations of ecological adversities? If so, are different configurations of risk associated with different youth outcome variables?
- Does social support mediate the relationship between incarceration and adult health?
- Does racial discrimination mediate the relationship between incarceration and adult health?
Charlene Harris, Ph.D. (SUNY, Oswego), Alex Vazsonyi, Ph.D., & Magda Javakhishvili (University of Kentucky)
- Do parenting behaviors affect adolescent involvement in risky and problem behaviors, and in turn, do adolescent risky and problem behaviors influence parenting behaviors over time?
- Do the bidirectional links between parenting and delinquency change as a function of other socialization influences (e.g., peer influence) or individual differences (e.g., hopelessness, future orientation?
- How are self-reports of delinquency predict official offending (juvenile court data) or vice versa?
Anneliese Bolland, Ph.D., Elizabeth Schlichting,; Q Mitchell, Ph.D., Jasmine Ward, Ph.D., (Texas Women's University) John Bolland, Ph.D. (University of Alabama)
- What are the trajectories of sexual immaturity in MYS participants?
Jessica Thames, University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Behavioral patterns, attitudes, and intentions of adolescent males who have engaged sexual activity.
Gabby Smith, Ph.D., Texas Women's University; Anneliese Bolland, Ph.D, Debra McCallum, Ph.D., John Bolland, Ph.D. (University of Alabama)
- Risk and Protective factors related to Life Satisfaction in adults who live in impoverished communities.
Colin Farrell, Ph.D. & Zaiba Moledina, Western Kentucky University
- Impact of sexuality concerns on risky behavior