Gender differences in family formation behavior: the effects of adolescent substance use

This study extended previous research on the association of substance use with family formation behavior by assessing the effects of the type and extent of adolescent substance use in a competing risks model. Substance use was expected to increase the likelihood of nonmarital family formation overall and differently by gender.

Longitudinal data from home interviews with the 14- to 16-year-old respondents to the first wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N = 4,011) were used in multinomial logistic regressions estimating the odds that first cohabitation, parenthood, or remaining single occurred before first marriage among five types of substance users compared with nonusers. Full sample analysis preceded separate analyses of women (n = 1,946) and men (n = 2,065).

Illegal drug use and concurrent substance use increased the likelihood that cohabitation, as opposed to marriage, was the first family type. Concurrent use of three types of substances had the largest effect on family formation behavior. The effects of singular marijuana use mattered only for men. The effects of substance use on parenthood as the first family type were significant only for women and increased the likelihood that marriage occurred first.

The effects of substance use depended on the type(s) of substance(s) used, singular or concurrent use, and gender. Previous research regarding cohabitation was supported and extended. Assumptions that substance use leads to teenage or unwed parenthood based on the relationship of substance use to pregnancy or its predictors should be re-examined.