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Over time relationships between early adolescent and peer substance use.
Bruce Simons-Morton1, Rusan S Chen
1National Institute of Child Health, And Human Development, 6100 Building Room 7B13 MSC 7510, Bethesda, MD 20892-7510, USA. Bruce_SimonsMorton@nih.gov
Addictive Behaviors
|October 19, 2005
Summary
Adolescent substance use is influenced by both selecting friends who use substances and friends influencing adolescent substance use. These reciprocal effects were observed, with peer influence being more consistent over time.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Health
- Social Psychology
- Substance Use Research
Background:
- Peer and adolescent substance use are strongly linked, yet the mechanisms driving this association remain unclear.
- Distinguishing between selection (choosing friends based on behavior) and socialization (being influenced by friends) in substance use progression is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reciprocal influences of peer substance use and adolescent substance use.
- To determine the relative contributions of selection and socialization processes in adolescent substance use.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 2453 middle school students over 3 years (grades 6-9).
- Assessed self-reported smoking/drinking and number of substance-using friends five times.
- Utilized an autoregressive latent trajectory model to analyze parallel processes.
Main Results:
- Both adolescent substance use and the number of substance-using friends increased linearly over time.
- Initial adolescent substance use predicted an increase in substance-using friends (selection).
- Initial number of substance-using friends predicted increased adolescent substance use (socialization).
- Socialization effects were more consistent across the study period than selection effects.
Conclusions:
- Evidence supports reciprocal influences between peer and adolescent substance use.
- Socialization appears to be a more consistent driver of adolescent substance use progression than selection.
- Understanding these dynamics is key for developing effective prevention and intervention strategies.