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. 2021 Feb 1:219:108479.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108479. Epub 2020 Dec 21.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of socio-cognitive and socio-affective processes association with adolescent substance use

Drew E Winters  1 , Richard Brandon-Friedman  2 , Gabriel Yepes  3 , Jesse D Hinckley  3
Affiliations

Systematic review and meta-analysis of socio-cognitive and socio-affective processes association with adolescent substance use

Drew E Winters et al. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Abstract

Background: Social impairments are important features of a substance use disorder diagnosis; and recent models suggest early impairments in socio-cognitive and -affective processes may predict future use. However, no systematic reviews are available on this topic.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses exploring the association between social-cognitive and -affective processes (empathy, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, theory of mind, and social cognition) and substance use frequency (alcohol, cannabis, general drug use). We examined moderating effects of study design, gender, age, and weather conduct problems were controlled for. We also review brain studies related to social cognition and substance use disorder (SUD) risk.

Results: Systematic review suggested a negative association for positively valenced constructs with substance use but mixed results on the negatively valenced construct CU traits. Meta-analyses revealed moderate positive association between CU traits with alcohol and general drug use but no significance with cannabis use. Moderate effect sizes were found for CU traits in youth predicting severity of substance use by late adolescence and significantly accounted for variance independently of conduct problems. Significant moderators included gender proportions, sample type, and age. Neuroimaging meta-analysis indicated 10 coordinates that were different in youth at a high risk/with SUD compared to controls. Three of these coordinates associate with theory of mind and social cognition.

Conclusion: Socio-cognitive and -affective constructs demonstrate an association with current and future substance use, and neural differences are present when performing social cognitive tasks in regions with strongest associations with theory of mind and social cognition.

Keywords: Adolescents; Callous-unemotional traits; Empathy; Risk; Social cognition; Substance use; Theory of mind.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Authors have no conflicts of interest to report

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Figure Depicting Effect Size Results of Behavioral Meta-Analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Figure Depicting the Moderating Effect of Proportion of Males on Effect Sizes in Longitudinal Studies
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Figure Depicting Moderating Effects of Controlling for conduct problems and Sample type
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Figure Depicting Moderating Effect of Age on Effect Sizes in Longitudinal Studies
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Figure Depicting Correlations of Neural Regions Meta-Analytic Neural Maps in Neurosynth
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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