Article

Developmental Trajectories of Adolescent Substance Use

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Abstract

Longitudinal data from 746 adolescents in Toronto, Canada (54% females), was gathered in eight waves over seven years (1995 through 2001), beginning when the youths were 10 to 12 years old (mean age = 11.8, SD = 1.2 years). Five trajectories of substance use were identified: chronic-high, childhood onset-rapid high, childhood onset-moderate, adolescent onset-moderate, and non-use groups. Late childhood risk factors for substance use included delinquency, academic disengagement, low parental monitoring, and associating with substance-using peers. Externalizing problems emerged as an additional risk factor for the most severe substance-using group during adolescence. Of note, the childhood onset-moderate group reported only moderate levels of substance use during adolescence despite high levels of risk during late childhood. Implications for prevention of and intervention for substance use are discussed.

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... Danielsson et.al. 2009; Modecki et al. 2014;Yamada et al. 2016;Lee and Kim 2017). Below, we summarise some of the findings from this research. ...
... High-risk drinking trajectories have been associated with e.g. gender and religion (women and religious youths have more cautious drinking patterns), poor relationships with parents and low school motivation (Jackson et al. 2008;Weichold et al. 2014;Nelson et al. 2014;Yamada et al. 2016;Patrick et al. 2017). Findings concerning socioeconomic background are inconsistent: some studies show a relationship between high-risk alcohol trajectories and low-income family background (e.g. ...
... These variables include measures of respondents' educational engagement at different time points (data from administrative registers), and survey data on their cigarette smoking (no smoking, smoking at parties or everyday smoking) and experience with cannabis use (dummy variable, used or never used). From the survey data, we also include variables measuring peer effects in relation to alcohol consumption, which have been found to be an important factor for the development of drinking (Danielsson et al. 2010;Weichold et al. 2014;Yamada et al. 2016). ...
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Aims The aim of this study was to examine the development in drinking patterns in a Danish cohort of young people from the age of 15 to 25/26. The cohort (born in 1989) is one of the first to be involved in the recent decline in youth drinking across Western countries. Methods Data (2463 individuals) included longitudinal survey data (three waves) on alcohol consumption and administrative data on family background and educational engagement. Data were analyzed by using a finite mixture linear model. Results Six different alcohol trajectory groups were identified: ‘moderate stable’, ‘late starters’, ‘low stable’, ‘chronic high’, ‘fling, high level’ and ‘fling, middle level’. Conclusion The paper shows that drinking trajectories in an intoxication-focused youth culture, such as that found in Denmark, are different from those in countries with lower alcohol consumption levels. Trajectories identified as dominant in other countries (abstainers or almost abstainers) are marginal in Denmark, while ‘fling’ drinking trajectories – alcohol consumption reaching exceptionally high levels around the age of 18/19 and then decreasing – are common. Although ‘fling’ trajectories peak at a high-risk level (according to the Danish National Health Board), they are socially regulated trajectories, tied to friendship networks and school environments. At the age of 25/26, most of the respondents have abandoned the pattern of heavy, youthful drinking – the exception being the ‘chronic high’ group who have not matured out of this in their mid-twenties. The article contributes to international research on the general decline in youth drinking, treating the 1989 cohort as ‘first movers’ in this development, but also showing how drinking trajectories follow country-specific patterns.
... Lee et al. (2019) highlight three primary pathways to SUD including (a) the deviance proneness pathway, in which individuals with higher levels of impulsivity are more prone to engage in risky behavior including substance use, (b) the stress/negative affect pathway, where individuals who are exposed to early stress or trauma, may cope with negative emotions resulting from these events by using substances, and (c) the pharmacological effects pathway, where individual differences in one's sensitivity to stimulating or sedating effects of various substances put some people at more risk for addiction and continued use than others. 2 In addition to these pathways, as many as seven developmental trajectories or classes have been identified in the literature and vary depending on the context, substance, and developmental age range (e.g., high users, steady increasers, desisters, adolescent limited users, low/moderate users, late onset, and non-users; Yamada et al., 2016). Common contextual factors that are associated with the risk of developing SUD include early onset of first use (Lee et al., 2010), association with peers who use substances (Connell et al., 2006;Yamada et al., 2016), and family history of substance use (Kirisci et al., 2007). ...
... 2 In addition to these pathways, as many as seven developmental trajectories or classes have been identified in the literature and vary depending on the context, substance, and developmental age range (e.g., high users, steady increasers, desisters, adolescent limited users, low/moderate users, late onset, and non-users; Yamada et al., 2016). Common contextual factors that are associated with the risk of developing SUD include early onset of first use (Lee et al., 2010), association with peers who use substances (Connell et al., 2006;Yamada et al., 2016), and family history of substance use (Kirisci et al., 2007). Primary racial/ethnic differences in substance use and disorder include the ''crossover effect'' in which, relative to their white counterparts, people with minoritized racial and ethnic identities have lower rates of substance use until a certain age or developmental stage (e.g., adolescence or early adulthood) when they are then at higher risk of SUD (Banks & Zapolski, 2018). ...
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The current review describes updated information on the evidence-based assessment of substance use disorder. We offer an overview of the state of the science for substance-related assessment targets, instruments (screening, diagnosis, outcome and treatment monitoring, and psychosocial functioning and wellbeing) and processes (relational and technical) as well as recommendations for each of these three components. We encourage assessors to reflect on their own biases, beliefs, and values, including how those relate to people that use substances, and to view the individual as a whole person. It is important to consider a person’s profile of symptoms and functioning inclusive of strengths, comorbidities, and social and cultural determinants. Collaborating with the patient to select the assessment target that best fits their goals and integration of assessment information in a holistic manner is critical. We conclude by providing recommendations for assessment targets, instruments, and processes as well as recommendations for comprehensive substance use disorder assessment, and describe future directions for research.
... Lee et al. (2019) highlight three primary pathways to SUD including (a) the deviance proneness pathway, in which individuals with higher levels of impulsivity are more prone to engage in risky behavior including substance use, (b) the stress/negative affect pathway, where individuals who are exposed to early stress or trauma, may cope with negative emotions resulting from these events by using substances, and (c) the pharmacological effects pathway, where individual differences in one's sensitivity to stimulating or sedating effects of various substances put some people at more risk for addiction and continued use than others. 2 In addition to these pathways, as many as seven developmental trajectories or classes have been identified in the literature and vary depending on the context, substance, and developmental age range (e.g., high users, steady increasers, desisters, adolescent limited users, low/moderate users, late onset, and non-users; Yamada et al., 2016). Common contextual factors that are associated with the risk of developing SUD include early onset of first use (Lee et al., 2010), association with peers who use substances (Connell et al., 2006;Yamada et al., 2016), and family history of substance use (Kirisci et al., 2007). ...
... 2 In addition to these pathways, as many as seven developmental trajectories or classes have been identified in the literature and vary depending on the context, substance, and developmental age range (e.g., high users, steady increasers, desisters, adolescent limited users, low/moderate users, late onset, and non-users; Yamada et al., 2016). Common contextual factors that are associated with the risk of developing SUD include early onset of first use (Lee et al., 2010), association with peers who use substances (Connell et al., 2006;Yamada et al., 2016), and family history of substance use (Kirisci et al., 2007). Primary racial/ethnic differences in substance use and disorder include the ''crossover effect'' in which, relative to their white counterparts, people with minoritized racial and ethnic identities have lower rates of substance use until a certain age or developmental stage (e.g., adolescence or early adulthood) when they are then at higher risk of SUD (Banks & Zapolski, 2018). ...
Preprint
The current review describes updated information on the evidence-based assessment of substance use disorder. We offer an overview of the state of the science for substance-related assessment targets, instruments (screening, diagnosis, outcome and treatment monitoring, and psychosocial functioning and well-being), and processes (relational and technical) as well as recommendations for each of these three components. We encourage assessors to reflect on their own biases, beliefs, and values, including how those relate to people that use substances, and to view the individual as a whole person. It is important to consider a person’s profile of symptoms and functioning inclusive of strengths, comorbidities, and social and cultural determinants. Collaborating with the patient to select the assessment target that best fits their goals and integration of assessment information in a holistic manner is critical. We conclude with overall recommendations for a comprehensive substance use disorder assessment and describe future directions for research.
... Substance use is more common among care leavers than non-care leavers, with the prevalence being up to more than half of care leavers (Petäjä et al., 2023), depending on the studies. Factors that predispose adolescents' substance use have been extensively studied (e.g., Hagborg et al., 2020), including being academically disengaged, associating with substance-using peers, being delinquent, and having low parental monitoring (Yamada et al., 2016). It is also worth noting that, according to the results of our study, the different forms of substance use both in the present and in the past were connected to each other, which indicates the continuous nature of these problems. ...
Article
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Adolescents in aftercare services and transitioning from out-of-home care, also known as care leavers, are more prone to social exclusion, risk behaviors, mental health problems, and lower quality of life compared to adolescents without a history in out-of-home care. These factors have a detrimental effect on their coping. This study was a cross-sectional document analysis which examined Finnish care leavers’ coping profiles and identified health related, educational, and behavioral background factors as well as their combinations predicting those profiles by utilizing Bayesian method. The data comprised information on care leavers that were aftercare services’ clients in one large Finnish city in the Fall 2020 (N = 698). Care leavers were divided into three groups based on the severity of factors affecting their coping: a minority belonged to the “moving on” group (6.7%), the majority (73.4%) to the “survivors” group, and a fifth (19.9%) to the – most problematic – “strugglers” group. Overall, 16 independent health related, educational, and behavioral factors were found to be associated with coping profiles. The most strongly associated variables were alcohol and drug use in personal history as well as during aftercare, and impulsivity. In addition, having access to a student’s social benefits had a protective effect on care leavers’ coping. Therefore, coping is a multifaceted phenomenon, which emphasizes the importance of service development and multiprofessional collaboration. In addition, the factors affecting the coping profile are also interconnected, which emphasizes the significance of further research, including intervention studies, to increase the knowledge of the phenomenon.
... Compared to the reference group of rare offenders: (1) low-level offender group membership was significantly predicted by low academic achievement and low parental empathy; (2) membership in the medium-level offender group was significantly predicted by low parental empathy and high peer tolerance of deviance; and (3) high-level offender group membership was significantly predicted by age, gender, low parental empathy, low parental monitoring, and high peer tolerance of deviance. Yamada et al. (2016) found five trajectories of substance abuse in longitudinal data of a sample of 746 adolescents in Toronto, Canada: chronic-high, childhood onset-rapid high, childhood onsetmoderate, adolescent onset-moderate, and nonuse groups. Late childhood risk factors for substance use included delinquency, academic disengagement, low parental monitoring, and delinquent peers. ...
... This gap in the literature is particularly important given the substantial age-related changes in substance use, which typically increases across adolescence and peaks in early adulthood (Chen & Jacobson, 2012;Johnston et al., 2019;Kann et al., 2018;Miech et al., 2019;Ohannessian et al., 2016;Park et al., 2018). However, some adolescents do not conform to this typical trajectory and instead engage in stable or decreased substance use over time (Tucker et al., 2005;Yamada et al., 2016). Thus, the impact different trajectories (i.e., patterns of use over time) of substance use have on brain gray matter volume remains unclear. ...
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Adolescent substance use is linked with negative future outcomes (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use disorder). Given that the brain undergoes significant maturation during adolescence, this developmental period may represent a time of particular vulnerability to substance use. Neuroimaging research has largely focused on heavy or binge patterns of substance use; thus, relatively less is known about the neural impact of a broader range of adolescent substance use. Characterizing the neural impact of a broader range of adolescent substance use may inform prevention and treatment efforts. The present study investigated relationships between adolescent substance use trajectories (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis) and gray matter volume in young adulthood. Substance use was assessed in 1,594 participants at ages 11, 13, 16, and 19. Following the last assessment, 320 participants completed a single magnetic resonance imaging session to assess brain gray matter volume. Latent growth curve models were used to estimate growth parameters characterizing alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use trajectories for each participant. These growth parameters (i.e., intercept, linear slope, and quadratic slope) were then used as predictors of gray matter volume. The gray matter volume of the hippocampus was positively associated with age 14 alcohol use (i.e., intercept) but not other trajectories (i.e., progression or acceleration) or substances (tobacco or cannabis). These results provide new insight into the neural impact of distinct adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use trajectories, which may help to refine prevention and treatment efforts.
... Higher parental monitoring is associated with fewer externalizing problems in child and adolescent offspring (Beyers Behavior Genetics et al. 2003;Van Loon et al. 2014). Parental monitoring is also associated with less substance use in late-childhood and adolescent offspring (Pereyra and Bean 2017;Yamada et al. 2016). ...
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This study examined the independent and interactive effects of alcohol use disorder genome-wide polygenic scores (AUD-PGS) and parenting and family conflict on early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Data were drawn from White (N = 6181, 46.9% female), Black/African American (N = 1784, 50.1% female), and Hispanic/Latinx (N = 2410, 48.0% female) youth from the adolescent brain cognitive development Study (ABCD). Parents reported on youth externalizing behaviors at baseline (T1, age 9/10), 1-year (T2, age 10/11) and 2-year (T3, age 11/12) assessments. Youth reported on parenting and family environment at T1 and provided saliva or blood samples for genotyping. Results from latent growth models indicated that in general externalizing behaviors decreased from T1 to T3. Across all groups, higher family conflict was associated with more externalizing behaviors at T1, and we did not find significant associations between parental monitoring and early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Parental acceptance was associated with lower externalizing behaviors among White and Hispanic youth, but not among Black youth. Results indicated no significant main effect of AUD-PGS nor interaction effect between AUD-PGS and family variables on early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Post hoc exploratory analysis uncovered an interaction between AUD-PGS and parental acceptance such that AUD-PGS was positively associated with externalizing rule-breaking behaviors among Hispanic youth, but only when parental acceptance was very low. Findings highlight the important role of family conflict and parental acceptance in externalizing behaviors among early adolescents, and emphasize the need to examine other developmental pathways underlying genetic risk for AUD across diverse populations.
... Adolescence is both a peak time for initiation of substance use [8] and a period of heightened sensitivity to the negative health impacts of alcohol and drugs, as adolescent substance use can disrupt the developing brain [11,12]. Adolescent substance use is also linked to short-term harms such as accidents [13,14] and risky behaviours, with potentially negative consequences including sexually transmitted infections, injuries, criminality and victimisation [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Substance use can also negatively impact educational attainment and is associated with academic disengagement [16] and failure to complete education [19]. ...
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Introduction and Aims Youth substance use is declining in many high‐income countries. As adolescent substance use becomes less common, it may concentrate in higher‐risk groups. This paper aims to examine how the psychosocial characteristics of young substance users in England have changed over time. Design and Methods Annual cross‐sectional data from the 2001–2014 Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England survey are analysed (n = 112 792, age: 11–15). Logistic and Poisson regression analyses are used to test whether the sex, socioeconomic status (SES) and prevalence of truancy and exclusion from school of those who drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, take cannabis, take other drugs and engage in poly‐substance use changed across the study period. Results Use of all substances decreased and there were shifts in the psychosocial characteristics of young smokers, illicit drug users and poly‐substance users. The proportion of current smokers and ever‐users of cannabis of low SES and who had been excluded increased significantly between 2001/2003–2014. The proportion of last month drug users who had been excluded from school also increased significantly and there were increases in the proportion of polysubstance‐users who had truanted and been excluded. The proportion of low SES alcohol users who had been excluded also increased significantly, but this change was very small. There was no evidence of substance use becoming more or less concentrated in one gender. Discussion and Conclusions There is some evidence that smoking, illicit drug use and poly‐substance use are becoming more concentrated in potentially at risk populations. There is limited evidence of concentration amongst young drinkers.
Chapter
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Chapter
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This study examined the links between children's perceptions of the manner in which they and their parents adjust their relationships during early adolescence and early adolescents' orientation toward parents and peers. A sample of 1,771 children completed self-report questionnaires during the spring of their 6th and 7th grades. As predicted, early adolescents who believed their parents asserted and did not relax their power and restrictiveness were higher in an extreme form of peer orientation. Also as predicted, those who perceived few opportunities to be involved in decision making, as well as no increase in these opportunities, were higher in both extreme peer orientation and peer advice seeking. Discussion focuses on the importance for parent-child relationships to adjust to early adolescents' changing developmental needs, as well as the implications of early adolescent peer orientation for later development.
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The distinction between friendship adjustment and acceptance by the peer group was examined. Third- through 5th-grade children (N = 88 1 ) completed sociometric measures of acceptance and friendship, a measure of loneliness, a questionnaire on the features of their very best friendships, and a measure of their friendship satisfaction. Results indicated that many low-accepted children had best friends and were satisfied with these friendships. However, these children's friendships were lower than those of other children on most dimensions of quality. Having a friend, friendship quality, and group acceptance made separate contributions to the prediction of loneliness. Results indicate the utility of the new friendship quality measure and the value of distinguishing children's friendship adjustment from their general peer acceptance.
Article
The difficulties inherent in obtaining consistent and adequate diagnoses for the purposes of research and therapy have been pointed out by a number of authors. Pasamanick12 in a recent article viewed the low interclinician agreement on diagnosis as an indictment of the present state of psychiatry and called for "the development of objective, measurable and verifiable criteria of classification based not on personal or parochial considerations, but on behavioral and other objectively measurable manifestations."Attempts by other investigators to subject clinical observations and judgments to objective measurement have resulted in a wide variety of psychiatric rating scales.4,15 These have been well summarized in a review article by Lorr11 on "Rating Scales and Check Lists for the Evaluation of Psychopathology." In the area of psychological testing, a variety of paper-and-pencil tests have been devised for the purpose of measuring specific
Article
In a 1935 paper and in his book Theory of Probability, Jeffreys developed a methodology for quantifying the evidence in favor of a scientific theory. The centerpiece was a number, now called the Bayes factor, which is the posterior odds of the null hypothesis when the prior probability on the null is one-half. Although there has been much discussion of Bayesian hypothesis testing in the context of criticism of P-values, less attention has been given to the Bayes factor as a practical tool of applied statistics. In this article we review and discuss the uses of Bayes factors in the context of five scientific applications in genetics, sports, ecology, sociology, and psychology. We emphasize the following points:
Book
To understand the way children develop, Bronfenbrenner believes that it is necessary to observe their behavior in natural settings, while they are interacting with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. His book offers an important blueprint for constructing a new and ecologically valid psychology of development.
Article
In this study, we examined the factor structure of the peer self-concept and its associations with structural and qualitative features of peer experiences in 1,627 male and female adolescents, enrolled in Grades 9 to 12. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor model that differentiated the peer self-concept vis-a-vis the peer group, close friendships, and romantic relationships. Results were consistent across grade and gender. Regression analyses indicated that each domain of the peer self-concept was differentially associated with those features of peer experience most relevant to their formation. When considered jointly, both peer network structure and friendship quality were significant predictors of peer self-concept. The results are discussed in terms of adolescents' self-concept and the nature of their interpersonal relationships.
Article
We applied a combination of variable-centred and person-centred approaches to the analysis of data from a longitudinal study of substance use in adolescence (ages 12-18). Regression models were specified to permit a distinction between chronic differences and changes in selected risk factors. Both chronic differences and changes in risk factors were found to predict differences in use at ages 15 and 18. However, the obtained regression models were found to be least applicable to adolescents deviating most from the normative longitudinal pattern, that is, adolescents exhibiting chronically low levels of use, adolescents exhibiting chronically high levels of use, and adolescents exhibiting a sharp increase in use between the ages of 15 and 18. Furthermore, risk factors linked to small or moderate deviations and those linked to more extreme deviations from the normative pattern were only partly the same.
Article
A developmental trajectory describes the course of a behavior over age or time. A group-based method for identifying distinctive groups of individual trajectories within the population and for profiling the characteristics of group members is demonstrated. Such clusters might include groups of "increasers," "decreasers," and "no changers." Suitably defined probability distributions are used to handle 3 data types-count, binary, and psychometric scale data. Four capabilities are demonstrated: (a) the capability to identify rather than assume distinctive groups of trajectories, (b) the capability to estimate the proportion of the population following each such trajectory group, (c) the capability to relate group membership probability to individual characteristics and circumstances, and (d) the capability to use the group membership probabilities for various other purposes such as creating profiles of group members.
Article
Over the past several years, there has been growing interest in identifying distinct developmental trajectories of substance use. Using data from the RAND Adolescent/Young Adult Panel Study (N=6,527), we synthesize our prior findings on patterns of smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use from early adolescence (age 13) to emerging adulthood (age 23). We also present new data on how these trajectory classes compare on key psychosocial and behavioral outcomes during emerging adulthood. For each type of substance use, we found two periods of vulnerability: early adolescence and the transition to emerging adulthood. As expected, early users were at relatively high risk for poor outcomes at age 23 compared to consistent low-level users and abstainers, even if they reduced their use during adolescence. However, youths who were not early users, but steadily increased their use over time, also tended to be at relatively high risk. Results suggest that multiple prevention approaches might be needed to successfully reach at-risk youths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
discuss . . . alternative models for understanding living systems / [argue] that the appropriate model for understanding developmental psychopathology is one that matches the complexity of human behavior / [present] a conception based on general systems theory that attempts to integrate individual and contextual processes in a model for understanding developmental psychopathology world hypotheses and root metaphors [formism, mechanism and organicism, contextualism] / models of development / the transactional model / transactions and psychopathology / the environtype [cultural code, family code, rituals, individual code of the parent, environtype as a system] / general systems theory [wholeness and order, self-stabilization, self-organization, hierarchical interactions, dialectical contradiction] / chaos theory and dynamic systems perspectives / general systems theory and mental health / from theory to practice / developmental regulations [macroregulations, miniregulations, microregulations] / transactional model of intervention [remediation, redefinition, reeducation] / lessons from the study of developmental psychopathology (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
This paper introduces new longitudinal network data from the “Promoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience” or “PROSPER” peers project. In 28 communities, grade-level sociometric friendship nominations were collected from two cohorts of middle school students as they moved from 6th, to 9th grade. As an illustration and description of these longitudinal network data, this paper describes the school popularity structure, changes in popularity position, and suggests linkages between popularity trajectory and substance use. In the cross-section, we find that the network is consistent with a hierarchical social organization, but exhibits considerable relational change in both particular friends and position at the individual level. We find that both the base level of popularity and the variability of popularity trajectories effect substance use.
Article
In a previous report, we demonstrated that adolescents' adjustment varies as a function of their parents' style (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, neglectful). This 1-year follow-up was conducted in order to examine whether the observed differences are maintained over time. In 1987, an ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous sample of approximately 2,300 14–18-year-olds provided information used to classify the adolescents' families into 1 of 4 parenting style groups. That year, and again 1 year later, the students completed a battery of standardized instruments tapping psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and behavior problems. Differences in adjustment associated with variations in parenting are either maintained or increase over time. However, whereas the benefits of authoritative parenting are largely in the maintenance of previous levels of high adjustment, the deleterious consequences of neglectful parenting continue to accumulate.
Article
The current study examined gender and racial/ethnic (Hispanics, non-Hispanic Caucasians, non-Hispanic African Americans, and non-Hispanic Asians) differences in developmental trajectories of alcohol use, heavy drinking, smoking, and marijuana use from early adolescence to young adulthood using a nationally representative sample. Participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 20,160) reported rates of alcohol use, heavy drinking, smoking, and marijuana use between the ages of 12 and 34 years. Data analyses were completed using longitudinal multilevel modeling analyses. Levels of substance use increased from early adolescence to mid-20s, and then declined thereafter. Females showed higher levels of substance use in early adolescence, although males exhibited greater changes overtime and higher levels of use in mid-adolescence and early adulthood. Overall, Hispanic youth had higher initial rates of substance use, whereas Caucasian adolescents showed higher rates of change and had the highest levels of substance use from mid-adolescence through the early 30s. Racial/ethnic differences largely disappeared after age 30, except that African Americans showed higher final levels of smoking and marijuana use than the other racial/ethnic groups. Results provide evidence for both similarities and differences in general patterns of development and in gender and racial/ethnic differences across different forms of substance use. Findings from the current study suggest that the critical periods for intervention and prevention of substance use may differ across gender and race/ethnicity, and that future research needs to identify common and unique mechanisms underlying developmental patterns of different forms of substance use.
Article
The extent to which peer influences on substance use in adolescence systematically vary in strength based on qualities of the adolescent and his or her close friend was assessed in a study of 157 adolescents (age: M = 13.35, SD = 0.64), their close friends, and their parents assessed longitudinally with a combination of observational, analogue, sociometric, and self-report measures from early to mid adolescence. The degree to which adolescents changed their levels of substance use in accord with their peers' baseline levels of use was predicted by a range of theoretically salient factors including: observed teen lack of autonomy and social support in prior interactions with mothers, low teen refusal skills, and the level of social acceptance of their close friend. Findings suggest the importance of both internal factors (e.g., autonomy and relatedness struggles) and external factors (e.g., social status of friends) in explaining why vulnerability to peer influence processes may be much greater for some adolescents than others.
Article
The present study was designed to examine the effects of school engagement on risky behavior in adolescence. Using data from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), a longitudinal study of U.S. adolescents, discrete-time survival analyses were conducted to assess the effect of behavioral and emotional school engagement on the initiation of drug use and delinquency. The current analyses used seven years of longitudinal data collected from youth and their parents. Results of discrete-time survival analysis indicated that, controlling for demographic variables, higher degrees of behavioral and emotional school engagement predicted a significantly lower risk of substance use and involvement in delinquency. Substance use prevention programs and other health-risk reduction programs should include components (i.e., adolescents' participation in and emotional attachment to school) to capitalize on the protective role of the school context against youth risk behavior.
Article
This is the first study to examine maternal predictors of comorbid trajectories of cigarette smoking and marijuana use from adolescence to adulthood. Participants (N=806) are part of an on-going longitudinal psychosocial study of mothers and their children. Mothers were administered structured interviews when participants were adolescents, and participants were interviewed at six time waves, from adolescence to adulthood. Mothers and participants independently reported on their relationships when participants were X¯ age 14.1 years. At each time wave, participants answered questions about their cigarette and marijuana use from the previous wave to the present. Latent growth mixture modeling determined the participants' membership in trajectory groups of comorbid smoking and marijuana use, from X¯ ages 14.1 to 36.6 years. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association of maternal factors (when participants were adolescents) with participants' comorbid trajectory group membership. Findings showed that most maternal risk (e.g., mother-child conflict, maternal smoking) and protective (e.g., maternal affection) factors predicted participants' membership in trajectory groups of greater and lesser comorbid substance use, respectively. Clinical implications include the importance of addressing the mother-child relationship in prevention and treatment programs for comorbid cigarette smoking and marijuana use.
Article
This study evaluated bidirectional associations between substance use, aggression, and delinquency across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades using data available from a large study of urban minority youth (n = 2,931). Group-based trajectory analysis revealed trajectories of aggression, delinquency, and substance use which support the existence of both adolescent-limited and life-course persistent offenders. In addition, a pattern of decreasing aggression was observed during middle school. Clear temporal associations were observed between developmental changes in aggression, delinquency, and substance use. Notably, the decreasing aggression trajectory was as likely to be associated with high trajectories of substance initiation as was the high aggression trajectory. Furthermore, trajectories of delinquency were differentially associated with future substance use; however, substance use trajectories did not predict trajectories of delinquency. There were few gender differences in the developmental progression of these problem behaviors during middle school with only two exceptions, males were more likely to follow a trajectory of decreasing aggression and a trajectory of high stable delinquency. Evaluations of ethnic/racial differences in the trajectory group membership also revealed few differences. The results of this study provide important information regarding interconnections between developmental changes in problem behavior that occur during the middle school years, highlighting groups that may be missed via traditional analytic approaches that predict mean changes.
Article
To investigate the relationship between early adolescent personal characteristics and the developmental trajectories of marijuana use extending from early adolescence to adulthood. This study used a longitudinal design. Data were obtained using structured questionnaires administered by trained interviewers. Interviews were conducted in the participants' homes in upstate New York. Participants were drawn from a randomly selected cohort and were studied prospectively since 1975 (T1) at a mean age of 6 years. The follow-up data used for this study were collected at 6 time points when the participants were aged between 14 and 37 years in 1983 (T2), 1985-1986 (T3), 1992 (T4), 1997 (T5), 2002 (T6), and 2005-2006 (T7). Developmental trajectories of marijuana use. Semiparametric group-based modeling and logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The following 5 distinct trajectories of marijuana use were identified: nonusers or experimenters, occasional users, quitters or decreasers, increasing users, and chronic users. Chronic users compared with other groups studied (nonusers or experimenters, occasional users, quitters or decreasers, and increasing users) reported low self-control, externalizing behavior, and an orientation to sensation seeking. Personal attributes of low self-control, externalizing behavior, and an orientation to sensation seeking have long-term predictive power for distinct trajectories of marijuana use over time. The importance of these findings for prevention and treatment programs is discussed.
Article
Although the onset of illicit substance use during adolescence can hit parents abruptly like a raging flood, its origins likely start as a trickle in early childhood. Understanding antecedent factors and how they grow into a stream that leads to adolescent drug use is important for theories of social development as well as policy formulations to prevent onset. Based on a review of the extant literature, we posited a dynamic cascade model of the development of adolescent substance-use onset, specifying that (1) temporally distinct domains of biological factors, social ecology, early parenting, early conduct problems, early peer relations, adolescent parenting, and adolescent peer relations would predict early substance-use onset; (2) each domain would predict the temporally next domain; (3) each domain would mediate the impact of the immediately preceding domain on substance use; and (4) each domain would increment the previous domain in predicting substance use. The model was tested with a longitudinal sample of 585 boys and girls from the Child Development Project, who were followed from prekindergarten through Grade 12. Multiple variables in each of the seven predictor domains were assessed annually through direct observations, testing, peer nominations, school records, and parent-, teacher-, and self-report. Partial least-squares analyses tested hypotheses. Of the sample, 5.2% had engaged in substance use by Grade 7, and 51.3% of the sample had engaged in substance use by Grade 12. Five major empirical findings emerged: (1) Most variables significantly predicted early substance-use onset; (2) predictor variables were significantly related to each other in a web of correlations; (3) variables in each domain were significantly predicted by variables in the temporally prior domain; (4) each domain's variables significantly mediated the impact of the variables in the temporally prior domain on substance-use outcomes; and (5) variables in each domain significantly incremented variables in the previous domain in predicting substance-use onset. A dynamic cascade represented the most parsimonious model of how substance use develops. The findings are consistent with six features of social development theories: (1) multiple modest effects; (2) primacy of early influences; (3) continuity in adaptation; (4) reciprocal transactional development; (5) nonlinear growth in problem behaviors during sensitive periods; and (6) opportunities for change with each new domain. The findings suggest points for interventions, public policies, and economics of substance-use and future inquiry.
Article
In a previous report, we demonstrated that adolescents' adjustment varies as a function of their parents' style (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, neglectful). This 1-year follow-up was conducted in order to examine whether the observed differences are maintained over time. In 1987, an ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous sample of approximately 2,300 14-18-year-olds provided information used to classify the adolescents' families into 1 of 4 parenting style groups. That year, and again 1 year later, the students completed a battery of standardized instruments tapping psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and behavior problems. Differences in adjustment associated with variations in parenting are either maintained or increase over time. However, whereas the benefits of authoritative parenting are largely in the maintenance of previous levels of high adjustment, the deleterious consequences of neglectful parenting continue to accumulate.
Article
To examine the extent to which weekly cannabis use during mid-adolescence may increase the risk of early school-leaving. A prospective study of a general population sample of adolescents studied from ages 15-21 years in Melbourne, Australia. Computer-assisted self-completion questionnaires and telephone interviews conducted in six waves at ages 15-18 and again at age 21 in a sample of 1601 male and female school students. Weekly cannabis use, assessed prospectively, was associated with significantly increased risk of early school-leaving. This effect remained after adjustment for a range of prospectively assessed covariates including demographic characteristics, other substance use, psychiatric morbidity and antisocial behavior. There was suggestive evidence of an interaction between weekly cannabis use and age with the effects of weekly cannabis use on early school-leaving being strongest at the youngest ages and diminishing progressively with age. Early regular cannabis use (weekly use at age 15) is associated with increased risk of early school-leaving. These effects of regular cannabis use may diminish with increasing age and are likely to operate through the social context within which cannabis is used and obtained.
Article
Variations in attachment-autonomy configurations are explored as these relate to substance use and several adolescent competencies. Questionnaires completed by 470 university students included measures of parental attachment, autonomy (both emotional autonomy and self-reliance), substance use, problems associated with substance use, social competencies, and coping. Analyses of subgroups representing four attachment-autonomy patterns, derived from cluster analysis, showed higher competency levels and fewer problems related to substance use for the group combining strong attachment and self-reliance coupled with low levels of emotional autonomy. A subgroup characterized by low father but moderate mother attachment security differed in a number of ways from a subgroup reporting low attachment to both parents. Findings support the utility of a typological approach in investigations of adolescent attachment and autonomy.
Article
To compare risk and protective factors that influence youth substance use in Australia and the United States. The two countries have different policy orientations toward substance use: Australia has adopted harm-reduction policies, and the United States has adopted abstinence-focused policies. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from independent samples of adolescents in the states of Maine (N = 16,861; 53% female, 7% Non-white) and Oregon (N = 15,542; 51% female, 24% Non-white) in the United States and Victoria in Australia (N = 8442; 54% Female, 11% Non-white) in 1998 (Maine and Oregon) and 1999 (Victoria). Chi-square tests, t-tests, effect size comparisons, and logistic regression analyses that accounted for age and gender were used to investigate cross-national similarities and differences in: (a) rates of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use; (b) levels of risk and protective factors; and (c) magnitudes of associations between risk and protective factors and substance use. More adolescents in Victoria reported using cigarettes and alcohol, whereas more of the U.S. adolescents reported using marijuana. Exposure to risk and protective factors was generally similar in the cross-national samples. However, adolescents in Maine and Oregon perceived handguns to be more readily available, reported more participation in religious activities, and were higher in sensation-seeking and social skills; and adolescents in Victoria had more favorable attitudes toward drug use and reported community norms and parental attitudes more favorable to drug use. Most of the risk and protective factors were strongly associated with substance use to a similar degree in Victoria, Maine, and Oregon. However, among adolescents in Maine and Oregon peer/individual risk and protective factors associated with social detachment were more strongly related to substance use, and among adolescents in Victoria, family protective factors were less strongly related to alcohol use. Inter-country influences on youth substance use are generally similar despite different policy directions. Existing differences suggest that the abstinence policy context is associated with higher levels of illicit drug use and stronger relations between individual indicators of social detachment and substance use, whereas the harm reduction policy context is related to more cigarette and alcohol use, possibly from exposure to normative influences that are more tolerant of youth drug use.
Article
The present study examined parental support and monitoring as they relate to adolescent outcomes. It was hypothesized that support and monitoring would be associated with higher self-esteem and less risky behavior during adolescence. The diverse sample included 16,749 adolescents assessed as part of the National Educational Longitudinal Study. Both high parental support and parental monitoring were related to greater self-esteem and lower risk behaviors. The findings partially confirm, as well as extend, propositions in attachment theory.
Article
Semiparametric group-based mixture modeling was used with data from an adolescent school sample (N = 1205) for three purposes. First, five trajectory groups were identified to characterize different patterns of change in the frequency of marijuana use across four waves of assessment during adolescence. These trajectory groups were labeled Abstainers, Experimental Users, Decreasers, Increasers, and High Chronics. Second, trajectory group comparisons were made across eight adolescent risk factors to determine distinctive predictors of the trajectory groups. Findings indicated, for example, that the High Chronic group, relative to the other trajectory groups, had higher levels of delinquency, lower academic performance, more drug using friends, and more stressful life events. Third, adolescent trajectory group comparisons were made across 10 risk behaviors in young adulthood (average subject age = 23.5 years) and the occurrence of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. Findings indicated some consistency across adolescence to young adulthood with regard to risk factors, and specificity with regard to the prediction of disorders. Adolescent trajectory group membership was significantly associated in young adulthood with cannabis and alcohol disorders but not with major depressive disorders or anxiety disorders.
Article
This study examined alcohol use from pre-adolescence to mid-adolescence and determined the influence of hypothesized covariates on changes in alcohol use rates during this developmental period. The sample comprised 405 randomly recruited youth from three age cohorts (9, 11, and 13 years), assessed annually for 4 years. Youth were 48.4% female, 50.4% African-American, and 49.6% White. A cohort-sequential latent growth model was employed which modeled alcohol use (use versus non-use) from ages 9 to 16 years, accounting for demographic variables of gender, race, parent marital status, and family economic status. Covariates of alcohol use included parent alcohol use, family alcohol problems, family cohesion, parent supervision, peer deviance, peer alcohol use, and peer encouragement of alcohol use. Results showed that proportions of alcohol users increased steadily from ages 9 to 16 years. Significant covariates were found on the intercept and slope. Being female and higher levels of parent alcohol use were associated with higher initial rates of alcohol use, whereas greater friends' encouragement of alcohol use was related to lower initial rates of alcohol use (intercept). Alternatively, more peer deviance and friends' encouragement of alcohol use was related to an increase in alcohol use rates from ages 9 to 16 years (slope), as was being White and from a single-parent family.
Article
Adolescents' susceptibility to peer influence was examined as a marker of difficulties in the general process of autonomy development that was likely to be related to deficits across multiple domains of psychosocial functioning. A laboratory-based assessment of susceptibility to peer influence in interactions with a close friend was developed and examined in relation to corollary reports obtained from adolescents, their mothers, and close peers at ages 13 and 14. As hypothesized, observed susceptibility to peer influence with a close friend predicted future responses to negative peer pressure, but it was also related to broader markers of problems in functioning, including decreases in popularity, and increasing levels of depressive symptoms, over time. Susceptibility to peer influence was also linked to higher concurrent levels of substance use, externalizing behavior, and sexual activity. Results are interpreted as reflecting the central role of establishing autonomy with peers in psychosocial development.
Article
Substance use disorders (SUDs) may be characterized by onset age, severity, substance type, course, and outcomes. SUD phenotypes in the literature typically consider each of these features in isolation. Conceptual frameworks and data collection procedures for assessing SUD phenotypes are increasingly "diachronic" in approach, providing for characterizations "throughout time". The recent availability of statistical procedures for the identification of latent classes offers the possibility of developing SUD phenotypes integrating these developmental features. This article illustrates the utilization of SAS-TRAJ mixture modeling to characterize variations in SUD symptom trajectories to define phenotypes. The subjects were 332 adult males with SUDs. Their course of symptoms from early adolescence through middle adulthood was retrospectively determined. Symptom trajectories were defined by the number of DSM-IV SUD symptoms by year of age. SAS-TRAJ mixture models identified trajectory classes. Model development, evaluation, and selection using this approach are discussed. Among these men with SUDs, six trajectory classes were identified, including groups characterized by early-onset and severe SUD symptoms persisting into adulthood, an early-onset group similar in adolescence but improving in adulthood, and other groups with symptoms emerging later with varying degrees of severity and persistence. The SUD trajectory classes were significantly different on comorbid psychopathology, particularly childhood disruptive behavior disorders. The results present a new method for the comprehensive depiction of heterogeneity in SUD symptoms. Future studies may determine the extent to which SUDs phenotypes based on the course of symptom development inform etiology, prevention and treatment research.
Article
To examine the effect of school suspensions and arrests (i.e., being taken into police custody) on subsequent adolescent antisocial behavior such as violence and crime, after controlling for established risk and protective factors in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States (U.S.). This article reports on analyses of two points of data collected 1 year apart within a cross-national longitudinal study of the development of antisocial behavior, substance use, and related behaviors in approximately 4000 students aged 12 to 16 years in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, U.S. Students completed a modified version of the Communities That Care self-report survey of behavior, as well as risk and protective factors across five domains (individual, family, peer, school, and community). Multivariate logistic regression analyses investigate the effect of school suspensions and arrests on subsequent antisocial behavior, holding constant individual, family, peer, school, and community level influences such as being female, student belief in the moral order, emotional control, and attachment to mother. At the first assessment, school suspensions and arrests were more commonly reported in Washington, and school suspensions significantly increased the likelihood of antisocial behavior 12 months later, after holding constant established risk and protective factors (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-2.1, p < .05). Predictors of antisocial behavior spanned risk and protective factors across five individual and ecological areas of risk. Risk factors in this study were pre-existing antisocial behavior (OR 3.6, CI 2.7-4.7, p < .001), association with antisocial peers (OR 1.8, CI 1.4-2.4, p < .001), academic failure (OR 1.3, CI 1.1-1.5, p < .01), and perceived availability of drugs in the community (OR 1.3, CI 1.1-1.5, p < .001). Protective factors included being female (OR 0.7, CI 0.5-0.9, p < .01), student belief in the moral order (OR 0.8, CI 0.6-1.0, p < .05), student emotional control (OR 0.7, CI 0.6-0.8, p < .001), and attachment to mother (OR 0.8, CI 0.7-1.0, p < .05). School suspensions may increase the likelihood of future behavior. Further research is required to both replicate this finding and establish the mechanisms by which school suspensions exert their effects.
Article
Substance use initiation and frequency are associated with reduced educational attainments among adolescents. We examined if decreases in substance use substantially improve youths' school attendance. A total of 1084 US adolescents followed quarterly for 1 year after entering substance abuse treatment. Random and fixed effects regression models were used to differentiate the lagged effects of drug use from other time-varying and time-invariant covariates. Self-reports of alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens and other drug use were used to predict subsequent school attendance, after controlling for demographic and drug use history characteristics, problem indices and other covariates. Reductions in the frequency of alcohol, stimulants and other drug use and the elimination of marijuana use were each associated independently with increased likelihoods of school attendance. Because years of completed schooling is highly correlated with long-term social and economic outcomes, the possibility that reductions in substance use may improve school attendance has significant implications for the cost-effectiveness of substance abuse treatment and other interventions designed to reduce adolescents' substance use.