Do peer social relationships mediate the harmful effects of a housing mobility experiment on boys' risky behaviors?

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to understand why a housing mobility experiment caused harmful effects on adolescent boys' risky behaviors.

Methods

Moving to Opportunity (MTO) (1994-2010) randomly assigned volunteer families to a treatment group receiving a Section 8 rental voucher or a public housing control group. Our outcome was a global risky behavior index (RBI; measured in 2002, n = 750 boys) measuring the fraction of 10 items the youth engaged in, 6 measuring past 30-day substance use and 4 measuring recent risky sexual behavior. Potential mediators (measured in 2002) included peer social relationships (e.g., peer drug use, peer gang membership).

Results

The voucher treatment main effect on boys' RBI was harmful (B (SE) = 0.05 (0.02), 95% CI 0.01, 0.08),

SUBMITTER: Schmidt NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7423625 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature