Risk Factors for Adolescent Marijuana Use Across Cultures and Across Time

An integrated analysis of the data from 3 different studies was conducted to examine the early psychosocial predictors of later marijuana use among adolescents. Longitudinal analysis of interview data was performed. The data used in the analysis were derived from (a) a sample of 739 predominantly White adolescents representative of the northeastern United States, (b) a sample of 1,190 minority adolescents from the East Harlem section of New York City, and (c) a sample of 1,374 Colombian adolescents from two cities in Colombia. South America. In 2 of the samples, participants were interviewed in their homes, and in the 3rd study, participants were assessed in school. The predictors included a number of variables from (a) the personality domain, reflecting the adolescents' conventionality and intrapsychic functioning; (b) the family domain, representing the parent-child mutual attachment relationship and parental substance use; (c) the peer domain, reflecting the peer group's delinquency and substance use; and (d) the adolescents' own use of legal drugs. The dependent variable was adolescent marijuana use. The results of the analysis demonstrated remarkable consistency in the risk and protective factors for later marijuana use across the 3 samples, attesting to the robust nature of these predictors and their generalizability across gender, time, location, and ethnic/cultural background. These findings have important implications for designing intervention programs. Programs aimed at preventing adolescent marijuana use can be designed to incorporate universal features and still incorporate specific components that address the unique needs of adolescents from different groups.     

The Relationship Between Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics and Substance Use Among Urban African American Adolescents

Although the neighborhood microsystem is recognized as an important domain for adolescent development, relative to the family and peer contexts, neighborhood factors have been understudied in relation to adolescent substance abuse. In addition, recent research suggests that risk factors for adolescent substance use may differ for African Americans when compared to Caucasian youth. This study investigated the association between perceived neighborhood disorganization and later substance use, as well as possible mediators of that association, among a community sample of urban African American adolescents. Perceptions of neighborhood disorganization (i.e., violence/safety and drug activity) in grade 7 were associated with increased tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in grade 9. For females, this association was mediated by attitudes about drug use and perceptions of drug harmfulness. Findings highlight the importance of neighborhood contextual variables for African American substance use. Implications and directions for future research are presented.     

Family risk factors and adolescent substance use: moderation effects for temperament dimensions

This research tested for moderation in the relation of family risk factors (parent-child conflict, family life events, and parental substance use) to adolescent substance use (tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana). A sample of 1,810 participants was surveyed at the mean age of 11.5 years and followed with 2 yearly assessments. Temperament dimensions were assessed with the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey and the Emotionality, Activity, and Sociability Inventory. Multiple-group latent growth analyses indicated moderation occurred through (a) alteration of effects of parental variables on the adolescent substance use intercept and on the peer substance use intercept and slope and (b) alteration of the effect of the peer substance use intercept on the adolescent substance use slope. The impact of parental risk factors was decreased among participants with higher task attentional orientation and positive emotionality (resilience effect) and was increased among participants with higher activity level and negative emotionality (vulnerability effect). Results from self-report data were corroborated by independent teacher reports.     

A network of influences on adolescent drug involvement: neighborhood, school, peer, and family

The interrelationship of neighborhood, school, peer, and family factors and adolescent drug involvement was investigated. Data were collected separately from 518 adolescents and their mothers when the children were between 9 and 18 years of age and again two years later. Neighborhood and school effects were not directly related to adolescent drug use. Neighborhood effects were mediated through the domains of school, peer, and family; school effects were mediated through the peer domain. Family and peer variables had a direct impact on adolescent drug involvement. Risk factors in the adolescents' peer environment can be ameliorated by protective factors in their school environment. Implications for the prevention of drug use are discussed.     

School Substance Use Norms and Racial Composition Moderate Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescent Substance Use

Parental and peer influences on adolescent substance use have been well demonstrated. However, limited research has examined how parental and peer influences vary across school contexts. This study used a multilevel approach to examine the effects of school substance use norms and school racial composition in predicting adolescent substance use (a composite measure of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use) and in moderating parental and peer influences on adolescent substance use. A total of 14,346 adolescents from 34 schools in a mid‐western county completed surveys electronically at school. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that school‐level disapproval against substance use and percentage of minority students at school were negatively associated with adolescent substance use. School‐level disapproval moderated the association between peer substance use and adolescent substance use, with the association being stronger when school‐level disapproval was lower. School racial composition moderated the influence of parental disapproval and peer substance use on adolescent substance use. Specifically, both the association between parental disapproval and adolescent substance use and the association between peer substance use and adolescent substance use were weaker for adolescents who attended schools with higher percentages of minority students. Findings highlighted the importance of considering the role of school contexts, in conjunction with parental and peer influences, in understanding adolescent substance use.     

Substance Use Progression from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: Effortful Control in the Context of Friendship Influence and Early-Onset Use

In a sample of 998 ethnically diverse adolescents, a multiagent, multimethod approach to the measurement of adolescent effortful control, adolescent substance use, and friendship influence was used to predict escalations to early-adult tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use by ages 22-23. Structural equation modeling revealed that adolescent substance use and friends' substance use tended to be highly correlated and together were robust predictors of a problematic pattern of usage for all substances in early adulthood. In addition, the adolescent effortful control construct directly predicted progressions to problematic use of tobacco and marijuana, but not for alcohol. In the alcohol model, effortful control interacted with the construct of substance use lifestyle (based on adolescent alcohol use and friends' substance use) when predicting problematic alcohol use in early adulthood. Results held when comparing across genders and across ethnic groups. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing adolescent self-regulation in interventions designed to treat and prevent early-adult substance abuse.     

Stress and Alcohol,Cigarette, and Marijuana Use Among Latino Adolescents in Families with Undocumented Immigrants

Families in which one or more members are undocumented immigrants experience unique hardships. Yet, little is known about stress and substance use among adolescents growing up in these families. The present study examined associations between two sources of adolescent stress (i.e., low parental involvement due to contextual constraints and family economic insecurity) and lifetime alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among adolescents in families with undocumented members. The sample was comprised of 102 adolescents (10–18 years old) and one of his or her parents. Participants responded a survey in English or Spanish. Adolescent lifetime use of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana was 51, 32.4, and 37.3 %, respectively. Chi-square analyses found no significant gender differences in lifetime substance use. Logistic regression models showed that adolescent stress due to hindered parental involvement increased the odds of both lifetime cigarette and marijuana use after controlling for gender, age, linguistic acculturation, familism, parental control, and negative peer affiliation. Being a girl increased the odds of lifetime alcohol use. Family economic stress was not associated with lifetime substance use. Results suggest that hindered parental involvement might be a stressor and a risk factor for cigarette and marijuana use among adolescents growing up in families with undocumented members. Because parents in these families are likely to be undocumented, policies that allow immigrants to apply for legal status could improve parents’ working conditions and facilitate parental involvement; in turn, such policies could decrease the risk for adolescent substance use among children of Latino immigrants.     

Adolescent Substance Use: Preliminary Examinations of School and Neighborhood Context

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.     

Predicting substance use behavior among South African adolescents: The role of leisure experiences across time

Using seven waves of data, collected twice a year from the 8th through the 11th grades in a low-resource community in Cape Town, South Africa, we aimed to describe the developmental trends in three specific leisure experiences (leisure boredom, new leisure interests, and healthy leisure) and substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) behaviors and to investigate the ways in which changes in leisure experiences predict changes in substance use behaviors over time. Results indicated that adolescents' substance use increased significantly across adolescence, but that leisure experiences remained fairly stable over time. We also found that adolescent leisure experiences predicted baseline substance use and that changes in leisure experiences predicted changes in substance use behaviors over time, with leisure boredom emerging as the most consistent and strongest predictor of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Implications for interventions that target time use and leisure experiences are discussed.     

Coping dimensions, life stress, and adolescent substance use: a latent growth analysis

The relation of seven coping dimensions to substance (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana) use was tested with a sample of 1,668 participants assessed at mean age 12.5 years and two yearly follow-ups. An associative latent-growth model showed one index of engagement (behavioral coping) to be inversely related to initial level of adolescent use and growth over time in peer use. Three indices of disengagement (anger coping, helpless coping, and hangout coping) were positively related to initial levels of peer use and adolescent use and to growth in adolescent use. Life stress was positively related to initial levels for peer use and adolescent use and to growth in adolescent use. Moderation tests indicated that effects of coping were significantly greater at higher level of stress; behavioral coping buffered the effects of disengagement. Effects of life stress were greater for girls than for boys. Results are discussed with reference to mechanisms of coping-substance use relationships.     

A Multivariate Associative Finite Growth Mixture Modeling Approach Examining Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use

Theoretical and empirical substance use development research suggests that adolescent populations are not homogenous and can often be separated into subpopulations characterized by qualitatively different patterns of substance use development. This paper demonstrates the application of a multivariate associative finite latent growth mixture modelling approach to examine heterogeneity in patterns of adolescent alcohol and marijuana use and the influence of age, gender, parent, and peer substance use. Substance use problem outcomes were also examined. Participants were male and female adolescents (N = 1,044) ranging in age from 11 to 17 years at the first assessment (Mean age = 14.47; SD = 1.95). Individuals were 45% female and 82% Caucasian. Using growth mixture methodology, a 7-class model captured distinct simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use patterns over a 3-year period. Findings highlight the importance of examining subgroups of adolescent substance use, rather than focusing only on single samples.     

Peer groups and substance use: examining the direct and interactive effect of leisure activity

This paper explores the relationships among adolescent leisure activities, peer behavior, and substance use. We suggest that peer group interaction can have a differential effect on adolescent deviant behavior depending on the type of leisure pattern adolescents engage in. We analyze data from a representative national sample of Icelandic adolescents, exploring the variations in the use of alcohol and illegal drugs among three different patterns of leisure activity, controlling for parental ties and school commitment. The findings show that alcohol and substance use varies significantly across the three leisure patterns. Moreover, it was found that the well-known relationship between adolescent substance use and having substance-using friends is significantly contingent on the type of leisure pattern. Our findings suggest that it is important to take into account different peer leisure activities in order to understand adolescent substance use. Finally, we discuss the implications of the findings for prevention work with adolescents.     

Susceptibility to peer influence: using a performance-based measure to identify adolescent males at heightened risk for deviant peer socialization

A substantial amount of research has suggested that adolescents' attitudes and behaviors are influenced by peers; however, little is known regarding adolescents' individual variability, or susceptibility, to peer influence. In this study, a performance-based index from an experimental paradigm was used to directly measure adolescents' susceptibility to peers. A total of 36 adolescent boys participated in a "chat room" experiment in which they ostensibly were exposed to deviant or risky social norms communicated either by high-peer-status (i.e., popular, well-liked) or low-peer-status (i.e., unpopular, disliked) grade mates who actually were electronic confederates. Changes in adolescents' responses before and after exposure to peer norms were used as a measure of peer influence susceptibility. These same adolescents completed a questionnaire assessment at the study outset and again 18 months later to assess their actual engagement in deviant behavior and their perceptions of their best friend's engagement in deviant behavior. Only among adolescents with high levels of susceptibility to high-status peers was a significant longitudinal association revealed between their best friend's baseline deviant behavior and adolescents' own deviant behavior 18 months later. Findings support the predictive validity of a performance-based susceptibility measure and suggest that adolescents' peer influence susceptibility may generalize across peer contexts.     

Adolescent Precursors of Intensity of Marijuana and Other Illicit Drug Use Among Adult Initiators

This study examined (a) adolescent psychosocial risk factors for frequency (intensity) of marijuana use and for other illicit drug use among those who started using these drugs in early adulthood (adult initiators) and (b) the protective role of parent-adolescent relations in reducing or preventing drug use when adolescents enter early adulthood. The study's participants were male and female youth from a longitudinal prospective study. The participants' mean ages were 17 and 22 years at late adolescence and early adulthood, respectively. Independent measures assessed personality, parental, peer, and self-drug-use factors during late adolescence; dependent measures assessed frequency of marijuana use and other illicit drug use during early adulthood for initiators of the respective drug categories. The authors found that intensity of marijuana use was directly associated with the personality, parental, and self-drug-use domains and indirectly associated with the peer domain. Intensity of other illicit drug use was directly associated with personality and self-drug use. Analyses also revealed that some parent-adolescent relations factors buffered the effects of risk factors for both marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity, whereas others enhanced the effects of protective factors against other illicit drug-use intensity. The results indicate that there are both commonalities and differences in precursors of marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity among initiators of these drugs during early adulthood.     

Adolescent precursors of intensity of marijuana and other illicit drug use among adult initiators

This study examined (a) adolescent psychosocial risk factors for frequency (intensity) of marijuana use and for other illicit drug use among those who started using these drugs in early adulthood (adult initiators) and (b) the protective role of parent-adolescent relations in reducing or preventing drug use when adolescents enter early adulthood. The study's participants were male and female youth from a longitudinal prospective study. The participants' mean ages were 17 and 22 years at late adolescence and early adulthood, respectively. Independent measures assessed personality, parental, peer, and self-drug-use factors during late adolescence; dependent measures assessed frequency of marijuana use and other illicit drug use during early adulthood for initiators of the respective drug categories. The authors found that intensity of marijuana use was directly associated with the personality, parental, and self-drug-use domains and indirectly associated with the peer domain. Intensity of other illicit drug use was directly associated with personality and self-drug use. Analyses also revealed that some parent-adolescent relations factors buffered the effects of risk factors for both marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity, whereas others enhanced the effects of protective factors against other illicit drug-use intensity. The results indicate that there are both commonalities and differences in precursors of marijuana and other illicit drug-use intensity among initiators of these drugs during early adulthood.     

Cognitive Moderators of the Longitudinal Association Between Peer Rejection and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

This longitudinal study examined peer rejection as a predictor of adolescent depressive symptoms during the critical developmental period associated with substantial increases in the prevalence of girls' depression. In a sample of 158 adolescents aged 15-17 years, a peer nomination, sociometric assessment was conducted to examine adolescents' peer status at an initial time point, along with self-report measures of depressive symptoms, depressogenic attributions, and peer importance. Adolescents completed a second measure of depressive symptoms 17 months later. Results were consistent with integrated cognitive vulnerability-stress and cognitive dissonance models, particularly for girls. Specifically, peer rejection was a significant prospective predictor of depressive symptoms when combined with high levels of importance ascribed to peer status and high levels of adolescents' depressogenic attributional styles.     

Reducing Social Stress in Urban Adolescents with Peer Network Counseling

Increased social stress in the context of peer interactions is associated with multiple negative health outcomes, including substance use. Addressing social stress could provide protective effects for adolescents who are particularly vulnerable to peer-based issues such as loneliness and perceived isolation. Toward this end, we examined the efficacy of a 20-min substance use intervention named peer network counseling to reduce social stress with 119 urban adolescents. Adolescents presenting at primary care clinics were randomized into treatment or control conditions and followed for 6 months. Utilizing a repeated measures general linear model, we examined the effects of peer network counseling while controlling for race, gender, age, depression symptoms, and substance use (alcohol, marijuana). At 6 months the peer network counseling condition decreased social stress compared to controls (p?<?0.05). A linear mixed-effects moderation model revealed that peer network counseling temporarily moderated the effect of alcohol use, but not for marijuana or heavy alcohol use. Peer network counseling seems to reduce social stress, which suppresses alcohol use among peer network counseling participants in the short term. These promising findings appear to support the efficacy of peer network counseling in reducing social stress, which can moderate alcohol use among urban adolescents.     

Prevalence and correlates of substance use among school children in six African countries

An increasing trend of noncommunicable diseases is a worldwide phenomenon, also including the developing countries. Few studies focus on adolescents' substance use in relation to mental distress and protective factors in African countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates (mental distress and protective factors) of substance use among school-going adolescents in six African countries. The sample included 20,765 students aged from 13 to 15 years from six African countries (Kenya, Namibia, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), chosen by a two-stage cluster sample design to represent all students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 in each country. The measure used was part of the Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) questionnaire, including various domains of health behaviour. Results indicate a prevalence of 12.6% tobacco use (past month), 6.6% risky alcohol use (two or more per day for at least 20 days or more in the past month), and 10.5% of illicit drug use (three or more times ever) in school-going adolescents in six African countries. School truancy, loneliness, sleeping problems, sadness, suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and poverty were associated with substance use (tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs), while school attendance and parental supervision and connectedness were protective factors for substance use, and peer support protective for tobacco use. It is concluded that tobacco use, risky drinking and illicit drug use were common, clustered together and were associated with school truancy, mental distress, and lack of parental and peer support among adolescent African school children. These findings stress the need for early and integrated prevention programmes.     

Peer and adolescent substance use among 6th-9th graders: latent growth analyses of influence versus selection mechanisms.

This study analyzed peer-influence versus peer-selection mechanisms in adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use. Participants were surveyed 3 times, with 1-year intervals, about peers' substance use and their own use; Sample 1 had 1,190 participants (initial mean age = 12.4 years), Sample 2 had 1,277 participants (initial mean age = 11.5 years). Latent growth analyses that were based on composite scores indicated that initial peer use was positively related to rate of change in adolescent use, supporting the influence mechanism; there was little evidence for a selection mechanism. Difficult temperament, poor self-control, and deviance-prone attitudes were related to initial levels for both peer and adolescent use. It is concluded that peer influence is the primary mechanism during middle adolescence. Temperament-related attributes may be predisposing to early experimentation and deviant-peer affiliations.     

Trajectories of family management practices and early adolescent behavioral outcomes

Stage-environment fit theory was used to examine the reciprocal lagged relations between family management practices and early adolescent problem behavior during the middle school years. In addition, the potential moderating roles of family structure and of gender were explored. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in family management practices and adolescents' behavioral outcomes and to detect predictors of interindividual differences in initial status and rate of change. The sample comprised approximately 1,000 adolescents between ages 11 years and 15 years. The results indicated that adolescents' antisocial behaviors and substance use increased and their positive behavioral engagement decreased over time. As adolescent age increased, parental knowledge of their adolescent's activities decreased, as did parental rule making and support. The level and rate of change in family management and adolescent behavioral outcomes varied by family structure and by gender. Reciprocal longitudinal associations between parenting practices and adolescent problem behavior were found. Specifically, parenting practices predicted subsequent adolescent behavior, and adolescent behavior predicted subsequent parenting practices. In addition, parental warmth moderated the effects of parental knowledge and rule making on adolescent antisocial behavior and substance use over time.