Examining the internalizing pathway to substance use frequency in 10 cultural groups.Show others and affiliations
2020 (English)In: Addictive Behaviours, ISSN 0306-4603, E-ISSN 1873-6327, Vol. 102, article id 106214Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs (i.e., substance use) is a leading cause of global health burden for 10-to-24-year-olds, according to the World Health Organization's index of number of years of life lost, leading international health organizations to prioritize the prevention of substance use before it escalates in adolescence. Pathways defined by childhood externalizing symptoms and internalizing symptoms identify precursors to frequent substance use toward which interventions can be directed. However, these pathways are rarely examined beyond the United States and Europe. We investigated these pathways in our sample of 1083 children from 10 cultural groups followed from ages 8-14. We found that age-10 externalizing symptoms predicted more frequent mother-reported age-13 and self-reported age-14 substance use. We also found that a depressive pathway, marked by behavioral inhibition at age 8 and subsequent elevation in depressive symptoms across ages 8-12 predicted more frequent substance use at age 13 and 14. Additionally, we found a combined externalizing and internalizing pathway, wherein elevated age-9 depressive symptoms predicted elevated externalizing symptoms at age-10 which predicted greater peer support for use at age-12, which led to more frequent substance use at age-13 and -14. These pathways remained significant within the cultural groups we studied, even after controlling for differences in substance use frequency across groups. Additionally, cultures with greater opportunities for substance use at age-12 had more frequent adolescent substance use at age-13. These findings highlight the importance of disaggregating between- and within-culture effects in identifying the etiology of early adolescent substance use.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 102, article id 106214
Keywords [en]
Adolescence, Cultural differences, Externalizing symptoms, Internalizing pathway, Multilevel, Substance use frequency
National Category
Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
Research subject
SOCIAL SCIENCE, Psychology; Child and Youth studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-14751DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106214ISI: 000508761500029PubMedID: 31809879Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85075793311OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-14751DiVA, id: diva2:1377233
Funder
EU, Horizon 2020, 695300-HKADeC-ERC-2015-AdG
Note
Funders: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (RO1-HD054805);Fogarty International Center (RO3-TW008141);NIH/NICHD, USA
2019-12-112019-12-112021-04-24Bibliographically approved