Teen Dating Violence Victimization and Patterns of Substance Use Among High School Students

Substance use in adolescence is a significant concern, particularly the use of multiple drugs. Yet, most studies examine a single substance in isolation, with limited consideration of the use of multiple substances. Furthermore, few studies have examined how teen dating violence (TDV) victimization is associated with patterns of substance use.

Using latent class analysis and latent class regression, the present study aimed to (1) identify subtypes of substance use among high school students and (2) examine the association between past-year physical and psychological TDV victimization and pattern of substance use. We focused on 30-day use of alcohol, binge drinking, marijuana, cigarette, cigarillo, and prescription drug use. Analyses were conducted on data from 18,680 adolescents in Grades 9-12, across 58 high schools.

The latent class analysis indicated a five-class model best fit the data; the largest class was composed of nonusers, whereas the other classes were high polysubstance use, alcohol use, alcohol and marijuana use, and moderate polysubstance use. The multinomial regression analyses indicated that adolescents who had experienced physical and psychological TDV were more likely to be in the two polysubstance use classes and the alcohol and marijuana use class, as compared with nonvictimized adolescents.

There is heterogeneity in adolescents' self-reported recent substance use, although a large proportion of substance-using youth reported recent alcohol and marijuana use. Preventive interventions should focus their efforts on preventing substance use among victims of TDV, in part because substance use is a risk factor for TDV victimization.