title: A growth curve analysis of stress and adolescent drug use.
abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe and examine one pathway by which adolescent drug use increases during early and mid-adolescence. It draws upon recent research on adolescent stress, drug use, and family processes to describe an important stage of the life course. A chief principle underlying the proposed pathway is that the cumulative effect of stressful life experiences over time can lead to a steeper escalation of drug use in adolescence. Furthermore, based on previous stress research, we propose that this effect may be moderated by factors such as sex, income, family attachment, self-esteem, and mastery. Using 4 years of panel data from the Family Health Study (n = 651 adolescents ages 11-14 during Year 1), we estimate a hierarchical growth curve model that examines the time-varying effects of stressful life events and peer relations on drug use. The results indicate that experiencing a high number of life events over time is related to a significant "growth" of drug use, even after controlling for "growth" due to age or peer relations. In addition, this relationship is moderated by family attachment; high levels of attachment serve to diminish this growth significantly.
authors.affiliation: National Opinion Research Center, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Cerbone
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Su
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D015146:Midwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D009769:Object Attachment; D010379:Peer Group; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*