Protective role of personal competence skills in adolescent substance use: psychological well-being as a mediating factor.
Adolescents who use a variety of cognitive and behavioral self-management strategies have been shown to report reduced rates of early-stage substance use, but little is known about how these personal competence skills may be protective. In a series of structural equation models, this study examined the association between competence skills and substance use over a 3-year period among 849 suburban junior high school students, and whether psychological distress, well-being, or both mediated this relation. Findings indicated that well-being fully mediated the relation between early competence and later substance use, but distress did not. Youth with good competence skills reported greater subsequent well-being, which in turn predicted less later substance use. Findings suggest that competence skills protect youth by enhancing well-being and that prevention programs should aim to enhance competence in order to promote resilience.
Griffin
K W
KW
Institute for Prevention Research, Weill Medical College, Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. kgriffin@med.cornell.edu
Scheier
L M
LM
Botvin
G J
GJ
Diaz
T
T
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*