Environmental Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use: Implications for Social Work

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between adolescent substance use and parental involvement, peer relations, and educational involvement according to gender.  It was hypothesized that environmental inputs such as parenting, involvement in outside activities, and school engagement are associated with substance use differently based on gender.  Adolescent substance use is so prevalent in the United States that it could be considered a normal yet potentially problematic milestone in youth development and experimentation can be considered replaced by regular use and increasing dependency (Winters & Lee, 2008).  According to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 24.6 million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit drug users.  This estimate represents 9.4% of the population aged 12 or older.  Systems Theory explains the reciprocal internal and external forces impacting emotions, behavior, and experience of individuals and larger system levels. 

Methods

The data used for this research comes from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.  Participants in the survey were “the civilian noninstitutionalized populations of the US who were 12 years of age or older at the time of the survey” (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2014, p. 1-3).  Using a random sample of US households, 67,383 interviews were completed. This study used an adolescent subset of the data (N=6,496) who were ages 12 to 17 at the time of the survey. Among adolescent participants, 56% of were European American, 15% were African American, 19% were Hispanic, 5% were Biracial, 4% were Asian, 1% was Native American, and 1% was Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders.  Regarding gender, 50.38% of respondents were male and 49.62% were female. Respondents’ education ranged from fifth grade through high school senior.  Structural equation modeling using Stata (v.14) was used to test the hypotheses. Control variables were family size, age, race and overall health. The model was tested against two groups, male and female. 

Results

The relationship between environmental inputs and substance use was statistically significant (α = .05), with partial support for the moderating effect of gender.  Specifically, parental involvement (e.g., including setting limits and providing structure for adolescents) was found to decrease the odds of adolescent substance use, and the hypothesis that this effect differed by gender was supported.  Although involvement among adolescents in activities outside of school was also significantly associated with their substance use, the effect was not moderated by the adolescents’ gender, and while school engagement was also significantly associated with substance use among adolescents, this effect was not moderated by their gender. 

Implications

Implications for social work include the importance of substance use interventions and treatment methods that account for gender.  Intervention strategies require a different approach according to gender.  At risk adolescent males would benefit from preventative interventions that involve parents focusing on instituting more structure and limits.  Gender-based interventions and treatments for adolescents using substances would be more effective at addressing adolescent substance use than would a universal approach.