Pubertal status, sensation-seeking, impulsivity, and substance use in high school-aged boys and girls.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how factors such as pubertal status, sensation-seeking, and impulsivity are related to substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) in high school students and examine these associations by gender.


METHODS
Ten public high schools in Connecticut participated in a survey of high-risk behaviors. Adolescents from grades 9 to 12 (N = 3068) completed measures of physical development (Pubertal Development Scale), perceived pubertal timing, impulsivity and sensation-seeking (Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-Form III), and cigarette, marijuana, and alcohol use in the past 30 days.


RESULTS
Logistic regression analyses modeling each substance use (cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol) and gender separately showed that (1) early perceived pubertal timing was associated with cigarette use but Pubertal Development Scale was not associated with any substance use, (2) sensation-seeking was associated with use of all 3 substances, and (3) gender differences were detected: impulsivity was associated with use of all 3 substances among girls, but this was not found among boys.


CONCLUSIONS
Future studies should examine the relationship among pubertal status, sensation-seeking, and impulsivity from preadolescence through late adolescence to better understand how these relationships to substance use may change with time and growth.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA. grace.kong@yale.edu
Grace
G
Kong
Anne E
AE
Smith
Thomas J
TJ
McMahon
Dana A
DA
Cavallo
Ty S
TS
Schepis
Rani A
RA
Desai
Marc N
MN
Potenza
Suchitra
S
Krishnan-Sarin
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003237:Connecticut / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011627:Puberty / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult