Exogenous Correlates of Substance Use Among Youth Who Have Experienced Maltreatment and Child Welfare Involvement

Adolescents with a history of maltreatment and child welfare involvement are at elevated risk for substance use, but few studies have focused on exogenous correlates (e.g., neighborhood, family, and peer characteristics) of substance use in this population. The current cross-sectional study explored associations between exogenous risk and protective factors and past-year substance use.

Self-reported data were collected from 249 youth (M_age = 13.95 years, SD = 0.67) who had experienced maltreatment and had an open child welfare case.

Almost one-third of the sample reported any substance use in the past year. In the full sample, community violence exposure and deviant peer affiliations were found to be risk factors for past-year substance use. For females, community violence exposure and deviant peer affiliations were risk factors for substance use, while affiliation with prosocial peers was a protective factor. For males, community violence exposure and living at home (vs. in out-of-home care) were risk factors for substance use. Parental monitoring and school connectedness were not related to substance use, suggesting that these protective factors are less salient in this sample.

Findings suggest that focusing on modifiable intervention targets (e.g., discouraging affiliations with deviant peers), providing mental health treatment for violence exposure, and addressing broader contextual risk factors are promising directions for substance use prevention efforts for this vulnerable population of youth.