Adverse Psychosocial Consequences of Inhalant Use

Background: Inhalant abuse is an emerging public health threat and is widespread among adolescents; in the United States, nearly 16% of 8th graders report lifetime inhalant use. Prior research has established the toxicity of inhaled volatile solvents, yet little is known about the adverse psychosocial consequences of inhalant abuse. Given the known associations between inhalant abuse, impulsivity, and psychological symptoms, we hypothesized that greater inhalant use frequency would be associated with elevated levels of high-risk behaviors and psychosocial consequences experienced during inhalant intoxication. This hypothesis was tested with data derived from a NIH-funded study of the epidemiology of inhalant abuse among an under-researched population of incarcerated youth.

Methods: Adolescent inhalant users incarcerated within the Missouri residential care system (N = 279) reported the perceived consequences of their inhalant use via a structured interview. Multivariate analyses were used to identify demographic and clinical predictors of adverse psychological, social, and behavioral consequences of inhalant use.

Results: Use of marijuana, “taking foolish risks,” getting into trouble, and driving a motor vehicle were among the most prevalent risky behaviors committed under the influence of inhalants. High frequency inhalant users were significantly more likely than moderate and low frequency users to experience a wide range of adverse biopsychosocial consequences of inhalant use. While intoxicated on inhalants, high frequency users were nearly three times as likely as low frequency users to commit acts of violence (50.6% to 13.7%, respectively) and vandalism (45.0% to 15.8%, respectively), and more than twice as likely to commit property crimes (53.1% to 18.9%, respectively) and drive a motor vehicle under the influence (49.4% to 23.2%, respectively). Certain risky behaviors and adverse health consequences, such as having unprotected sex or suffering serious physical injury while high on inhalants were multiplicatively more common among high frequency users than low frequency users, and intravenous drug use and suicide attempts were exponentially so. After controlling for lifetime inhalant use frequency, multiple linear regression analyses revealed that prior traumatic experiences and polysubstance abuse significantly predicted adverse inhalant-related consequences.

Conclusions and Implications: Inhalant abuse appears to result in severe psychosocial and physical health consequences. The likelihood of experiencing deleterious effects and committing antisocial or high risk behaviors during inhalant intoxication increases monotonically as a function of lifetime frequency of inhalant use. Because a large proportion of adolescent inhalant users engage in dangerous activities with the potential to inflict serious harm upon themselves and/or others, policymakers and clinicians alike would be prudent to prioritize such at-risk youth in future intervention and prevention efforts.