# Multilevel risk profiles and reproductive health across adolescence and young adulthood.

> **NIH NIH R03** · SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $80,619

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Sexual and reproductive health continues to be a public health concern. In this United States, rates of sexually
transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy are highest among adolescents and young adults, making
prevention programs to this group to be particularly important. Longitudinal data now exists that can give
greater insight into the factors that underlie sexual and reproductive health outcomes develop across
adolescence and young adulthood, but new analytic methods are necessary to unlock the full potential of this
data. We propose the use and integration of two innovative analytic methods, the time-varying effect modeling
(TVEM) and latent class analysis (LCA) to long-term longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of
Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). This project has three specific aims. The first aim will elucidate age
trends in SRH outcomes (e.g., sexual risk behaviors, STIs, unintended pregnancy) across adolescence
through young adulthood at the population level. We will examine how these age-varying trends differ by
demographic subgroups (biological sex, race/ethnicity, and sexual minority status). The second aim will
examine how profiles of multilevel early risk factors (e.g., parent, peer, neighborhood) predict sexual and
reproductive health outcomes across adolescence through young adulthood, and how these age-varying
associations differ by demographic subgroup. Finally, the third aim will examine how age-varying individual
factors differentially predict SRH outcomes across adolescence and young adulthood, and how these
associations differ by demographic subgroups and membership in the early risk profile classes determined in
Aim 2. This project will provide population-level knowledge on the developmental course of SRH outcomes,
processes which underlie these outcomes, and how they differ by subgroup. Results will allow prevention
scientists to design interventions targeting the most relevant risk factors at particular ages for specific
subgroups. To maximize the project’s overall impact, published manuscripts will include details of the statistical
models and programming syntax so that researchers can use these approaches to answer new questions
about age-varying processes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9884796
- **Project number:** 5R03HD096101-03
- **Recipient organization:** SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara A. Vasilenko
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $80,619
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9884796

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9884796, Multilevel risk profiles and reproductive health across adolescence and young adulthood. (5R03HD096101-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9884796. Licensed CC0.

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