title: Adolescence Is a Sensitive Period for Housing Mobility to Influence Risky Behaviors: An Experimental Design.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Test whether neighborhood mobility effects on adolescent risky behaviors varies at different developmental ages and gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) study randomly assigned volunteer families (1994-1997) to receive a Section 8 voucher to move to lower poverty neighborhoods versus a public housing control group. We tested three-way treatment, gender, and age-at-randomization interactions using intent-to-treat linear regression predicting a risky behavior index (RBI; measured in 2002, N = 2,829), defined as the fraction of 10 behaviors the youth reported (six measuring risky substance use [RSU], four measuring risky sexual behavior), and the RSU and risky sexual behavior subscales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The treatment main effect on RBI was nonsignificant for girls (B = -.01, 95% confidence interval -.024 to .014) and harmful for boys (B = .03, 95% confidence interval .009 to .059; treatment-gender interaction p = .01). The treatment, gender, and age interaction was significant for RBI (p = .02) and RSU (p ≤ .001). Treatment boys 10 years or older at randomization were more likely (p < .05) than controls to exhibit RBI and RSU, whereas there was no effect of treatment for boys <10 years. There were no treatment control differences by age for girls' RBI, but girls 9+ years were less likely than girls ≤8 years to exhibit RSU (p < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Moving families of boys aged 10 years or older with rental vouchers may have adverse consequences on risky behaviors but may be beneficial for girls' substance use. Developmental windows are different by gender for the effects of improving neighborhood contexts on adolescent risky behavior.
authors.affiliation: Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Electronic address: schmidtn@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: M Maria
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Glymour
authors.affiliation: Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Theresa L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Osypuk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011203:Poverty; D011638:Public Housing / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012107:Research Design; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012931:Social Environment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; Adolescent behavior; Housing; Public housing; Randomized controlled trial; Risky behaviors; Sensitive periods