Adolescence Is a Sensitive Period for Housing Mobility to Influence Risky Behaviors: An Experimental Design

PurposeTest whether neighborhood mobility effects on adolescent risky behaviors varies at different developmental ages and gender.MethodsThe 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 publichousing controlgroup. 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.ResultsThe 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 10years 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