Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug:119:106944.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106944. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Risk factors for alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette polysubstance use during adolescence and young adulthood: A 7-year longitudinal study of youth at high risk for smoking escalation

Natania A Crane  1 , Scott A Langenecker  2 , Robin J Mermelstein  3
Affiliations

Risk factors for alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette polysubstance use during adolescence and young adulthood: A 7-year longitudinal study of youth at high risk for smoking escalation

Natania A Crane et al. Addict Behav. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana are the three most widely used substances among adolescents and young adults, with co-use of multiple substances being common. Few longitudinal studies have examined risk factors of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine poly-substance use. We examined frequency of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette poly-substance use over time and how key risk factors contribute to this substance use during adolescence and young adulthood.

Methods: Participants (N = 1263 9th and 10th graders) were oversampled for ever-smoking a cigarette at baseline from 16 Chicago-area high schools between 2004 and 2006. Many participants progressed to heavier cigarette use, as well as alcohol and marijuana use over time. Participants completed questionnaires assessing substance use and psychosocial factors at baseline, 6-, 15-, 24-, 33-months, and 5-, 6-, and 7-years.

Results: Longitudinal multi-level models demonstrated that at baseline and over time, more depression symptoms, more anxiety symptoms, negative mood regulation expectancies, and lower grade point average (GPA) were each associated with more poly-substance use over time. In addition, there were a number of interaction effects of gender (e.g., depression was related to substance use in males) and developmental stage moderated these relationships.

Conclusions: Depression, anxiety, negative mood regulation expectancies, and GPA all significantly influence both initial and longitudinal levels of substance use across adolescence and young adulthood. Our findings underscore the importance of identifying and treating youth with depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as providing resources early for those struggling in school in order to help with substance use prevention and intervention efforts.

Keywords: Alcohol; Anxiety; Cigarettes; Depression; Marijuana; Nicotine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of Substance Use Over Time
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent of Individuals with Poly-Substance Use
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percent of Individuals Reporting Using Two Substances
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Degenhardt L, Hall W, Lynskey M. The relationship between cannabis use and other substance use in the general population. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2001;64(3):319–327. - PubMed
    1. Kandel D, Yamaguchi K. From beer to crack: developmental patterns of drug involvement. Am J Public Health. 1993;83(6):851–855. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Korhonen T, Huizink AC, Dick DM, Pulkkinen L, Rose RJ, Kaprio J. Role of individual, peer and family factors in the use of cannabis and other illicit drugs: a longitudinal analysis among Finnish adolescent twins. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2008;97(1-2):33–43. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lynskey MT, Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ. The origins of the correlations between tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis use during adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 1998;39(7):995–1005. - PubMed
    1. Mathers M, Toumbourou JW, Catalano RF, Williams J, Patton GC. Consequences of youth tobacco use: a review of prospective behavioural studies. Addiction. 2006;101(7):948–958. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources