Developmental Growth Trajectories of Self-Esteem in Adolescence: Associations with Child Neglect and Drug Use and Abuse in Young Adulthood.
Neglectful rearing is linked with young adults' substance use and abuse, though the developmental mechanisms that underlie this association are unclear. The present study examines links between self-esteem growth during adolescence, childhood supervisory versus physical neglect severity, and substance use and abuse in young adulthood. A sample of youth was obtained from the Add Health study (N = 8738; 55.4 %-Female; 20 %-African American, 14.7 %-Hispanic). Growth mixture modeling analyses supported declining, ascending, and stable high self-esteem trajectories. The declining and ascending trajectories reported greater neglect and alcohol abuse (but not use) as well as cannabis use and abuse. The findings suggest that compromised development of self-esteem underlies associations between neglect and substance use and abuse. Preventive interventions may benefit from targeting self-esteem among neglected youth.
Youth Development Lab, 208 Family Science Center (House A), 403 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA, 30602-2622, USA. oshri@uga.edu.|Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. oshri@uga.edu.|Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. oshri@uga.edu.|Department of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. oshri@uga.edu.
Assaf
A
Oshri
Youth Development Lab, 208 Family Science Center (House A), 403 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA, 30602-2622, USA.|Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Matthew W
MW
Carlson
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Josephine A
JA
Kwon
Department of Psychology, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Amos
A
Zeichner
Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Kandauda K A S
KK
Wickrama
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
Child neglect; Development and psychopathology; Maltreatment; Resilience; Self esteem; Substance use and abuse