Northwestern Juvenile Project (Cook County, Illinois), Follow-up 3, 1999-2007

This study contains data from the third follow-up interview of the Northwestern Juvenile Project (NJP), a longitudinal assessment of alcohol, drug, or mental service treatment needs of juvenile detainees. The third follow-up occurred approximately four years after the baseline interview and focused on studying the development and persistence of psychiatric disorders, related predictive variables, patterns of drug use, and other risk behaviors.
The project's aims included studying (1) development and persistence of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders and (2) pathways and patterns of risky behaviors. Changes in disorders over time were studied (including onset, remission, and recurrence), comorbidity, associated functional impairments, and the risk and protective factors related to these disorders and impairments. This study addressed patterns and sequences of the development of drug use and related variables, focusing on gender differences, racial/ethnic differences, the antecedents of these risky behaviors (risk and protective factors), and how these behaviors were interrelated. The original sample included 1829 randomly selected youth, 1172 males and 657 females, then 10 to 18 years old, enrolled in the study as they entered the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center from 1995 to 1998. Among the sample were 1005 African Americans, 524 Hispanics, 296 non-Hispanic white respondents.
Participants were tracked from the time they left detention. A random subsample of 997 of the baseline participants were chosen for third follow-up interviews. Re-interviews were conducted regardless of where respondents were living when their follow-up interview was due: in the community, correctional settings, or by telephone if they lived farther than two hours from Chicago.

本研究采用西北青少年项目（Northwestern Juvenile Project, NJP）的第三次追踪访谈数据，该项目是针对青少年被拘留者酒精、药物或精神服务需求开展的纵向评估（longitudinal assessment）。第三次追踪访谈于基线访谈（baseline interview）后约四年实施，重点探究精神障碍的发生与持续特征、相关预测变量、药物使用模式及其他风险行为。
该项目的研究目标包含两项：(1) 酒精、药物及精神障碍的发生与持续情况；(2) 风险行为的发展路径与模式。研究涵盖随时间推移的精神障碍变化（包括发病、缓解与复发）、共病（comorbidity）状况、相关功能损害，以及与这些障碍和损害相关的风险与保护因素。本研究聚焦药物使用及相关变量的发展模式与时序特征，重点考察性别差异、种族/族裔差异、此类风险行为的前置影响因素（风险与保护因素），以及各类行为间的相互关联。
研究初始样本为1995年至1998年间，在进入库克县青少年临时拘留中心时招募的1829名随机选取的青少年，年龄介于10至18岁，其中男性1172名、女性657名。样本构成包括1005名非裔美国人、524名西班牙裔人群及296名非西班牙裔白人受访者。
研究对象自离开拘留中心后即被纳入追踪随访。研究从基线参与者中随机抽取997人参与第三次追踪访谈。无论受访者在随访访谈开展时的居住地为何，均会进行重新访谈：包括社区、矫正机构（correctional settings）；若受访者居住地点距离芝加哥超过两小时车程，则通过电话完成访谈。