Risk Factors for Inhalant Use Among Child Welfare System Involved Adolescents

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

Child welfare involved adolescents tend to engage in myriad hazardous behaviors.  Illicit substance use, especially inhalants has become a grim public health crisis during the crucial phase of adolescent development, particularly for maltreated youth.  Examples of inhalants include glue, gasoline, paint, solvents, whipped cream dispensers, and nail polish remover (Johnston et al., 2015; NIDA, 2012a, 2012b).  Inhalants are digested by “sniffing,” “huffing,” or “snorting” fumes from paper or plastic bags, soaked rags, containers, or directly from aerosol cans.  Although inhalant intoxication lasts only a few minutes, the resulting sensations include euphoria, dizziness, ataxia, and slurred speech, not unlike alcohol intoxication.  Harmful health consequences include brain damage, heart irregularities, optic nerve damage, hearing loss, liver damage, muscle atrophy, and death (NIDA, 2012a, 2012b).

Despite a salient gap in the literature, extant research suggests maltreated children (NIDA, 2012a) and delinquent youth (Snyder & Howard, 2015) are particularly at risk of inhalant use.  Scholars have contributed to filling this gap documenting risk factors such as neglect, deviant peer affiliation, delinquency and identifying as white as likely indicators for substance use among child welfare involved youth (Traube, et al., 2012).  Further, weak school peer connectedness and more deviant peer affiliations have been found related to negative behaviors overall (Merritt & Snyder, 2015).  This study assesses a host of risk factors among child welfare involved youth separately to approximate the odds of inhalant substance use.

METHODS:  Relying on a subsample of 1,669 participants (11-17 years old) from Wave II of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW II).  The dependent variable was lifetime inhalant use (yes=1). The predictor variables are: age; sex (Female =1); race (White =1); combined supervisory and physical neglect (yes=1); out-of-home care (yes =1); problematic behaviors (yes =1); deviant peer affiliation (sum of 6 items, ranges from 6 to 30); depression (sum of 27 items, ranges from 34 to 95); delinquency (sum of 36 items, ranges from 0 to 35), and school peer engagement (factored item based on 11 items, ranges from 13 to 55).  We inspected bivariate relationships using logistic regression between each of the predictors and the dichotomous outcome variable, inhalant use.

RESULTS:  Bivariate logistic regressions determined significant relationships between distinct psychosocial risk factors and inhalant use.  Females were nearly four times more likely to use inhalants (OR = 3.96, p= 0.00).  Increased delinquency (OR = 1.32, p= 0.00), more deviant peer affiliation (OR = 1.21, p= 0.00), problematic behaviors (OR = 2.54, p= 0.05), and depression (OR = 1.10, p=0.00) indicated youth were more likely to use inhalants.  Youth scoring higher on the school peer engagement scale were less likely to consume inhalants (OR = 0.94, p< 0.03).  There were no significant relationships between maltreatment type, out of home placement status or age.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:  Inhalant use among child welfare involved youth should be addressed based on individual psychosocial factors, rather than a composite of risks.  Additionally, school peer engagement serves as a buffer against the likelihood of engaging in inhalant use.