The present dissertation addresses two research questions: 1) how does the intersection of race/ethnicity and immigrant generation associate with the heterogeneity in the developmental trajectories of health behaviors from adolescence into adulthood? and 2) how do the structural pathways that lead to substance use and obesogenic behaviors differentiate across the intersections of race/ethnicity and immigrant generation? The present studies used a sample of 20, 745 adolescents and their parents from the longitudinal Add Health dataset. The two studies used a latent growth mixture model paired with multinomial logistic regressions to observe the latent classes of trajectories of health behaviors and their associations with socioeconomic adversity, race/ethnicity, and immigrant generation, and a structural equation model with multiple group comparisons to observe differential structural pathways that lead to health behaviors in early adulthood. The findings suggest that the interaction of race and immigrant generation are associated with latent trajectory classes differentially, and also present with differential structural pathways from socioeconomic adversity to health behaviors through parental support, perceived discrimination, and heritage language retention, with partial support for the immigrant paradox. These results emphasize the need for preventive intervention programs to address the parent-child relationship in preventing engagement with health compromising behaviors for ethnic minority and immigrant youth.