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Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
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Impairment, Disability, and Substance Use Disorder
1Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, USA.
Substance Use & Misuse
|December 13, 2022
Summary
Societal barriers, not impairments, cause disability. This study found that disability, as a measure of chronic stress, fully explains the link between impairment and substance use disorder.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Public Health
- Sociology
Background:
- The social model of disability posits that societal barriers, not individual impairments, cause disability.
- Disability is a known chronic stressor, associated with higher substance use rates in affected individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between impairment and substance use disorder (SUD).
- To examine if disability, conceptualized as chronic stress, mediates the impairment-SUD relationship, using the social model of disability and stress process framework.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (N=42,739).
- Employed statistical analysis to examine the relationship between impairment and SUD, and the mediating role of disability.
Main Results:
- Individuals with impairments showed significantly higher odds of having a SUD.
- The relationship between impairment and SUD was fully mediated by disability, indicating disability's role as a stressor.
Conclusions:
- Disability, representing chronic stress from societal inaccessibility, fully explains the elevated risk of SUD in individuals with impairments.
- Interventions should focus on reducing societal barriers to address disability-related SUD, rather than solely on individual impairments.
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