The Network Constellation of Personality and Substance Use: Evolution from Early to Late Adolescence

Alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine use have distinct associations with COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences: An exploratory Bayesian network analysis across two timepoints

BACKGROUND

Substance use trends during the COVID-19 pandemic have been extensively documented. However, relatively less is known about the associations between pandemic-related experiences and substance use.

METHOD

In July 2020 and January 2021, a broad U.S. community sample (N = 1123) completed online assessments of past month alcohol, cannabis, and nicotine use and the 92-item Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory, a multidimensional measure of pandemic-related experiences. We examined links between substance use frequency, and pandemic impact on emotional, physical, economic, and other key domains, using Bayesian Gaussian graphical networks in which edges represent significant associations between variables (referred to as nodes). Bayesian network comparison approaches were used to assess the evidence of stability (or change) in associations between the two timepoints.

RESULTS

After controlling for all other nodes in the network, multiple significant edges connecting substance use nodes and pandemic-experience nodes were observed across both time points, including positive- (r range 0.07-0.23) and negative-associations (r range -0.25 to -0.11). Alcohol was positively associated with social and emotional pandemic impacts and negatively associated with economic impacts. Nicotine was positively associated with economic impact and negatively associated with social impact. Cannabis was positively associated with emotional impact. Network comparison suggested these associations were stable across the two timepoints.

CONCLUSION

Alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use had unique associations to a few specific domains among a broad range of pandemic-related experiences. Given the cross-sectional nature of these analyses with observational data, further investigation is needed to identify potential causal links.

Investigating the relationship between high-risk behaviors and mental health in adolescents in Rabor city, Iran

OBJECTIVES

High-risk behaviors (HRBs) represent significant health threats for adolescents and significantly affect adolescents' mental health. Adolescents often engage in risky behaviors. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between high-risk behaviors (HRBs) and mental health in adolescents in Rabor.

CONTENT

The present study was a cross-sectional analytical study that was performed on 334 girl and boy students aged 12-18 years in Rabor city in 2021. In this study, adolescents answered high risk behaviors and mental health questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS-26 software and the spearman correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis (univariate and multivariate analysis) were used to analyze the data.

SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

In this study, the mean age was 15.25 ± 1.78. The findings indicate that smoking and hookah use were higher in boys than girls. Among the demographic variables, age and level of education had a positive and significant relationship with HRBs and mental health (p<0.05). The mean score of total mental health for all subjects was 12.83 ± 10.82. The variables of age, sex, marital status of parents, the number of children in the family, educational level, smoking, hookah, and alcohol have been determined as influential and facilitating factors in HRBs of adolescents. Father's literacy was considered as a facilitator and age variables, alcohol consumption and parents' marital status were considered as deterrents to mental health. The present study showed that the male gender is one of the risk factors for alcohol, smoking and other substances, the tendency to high-risk sexual behaviors, depression, and suicide in adolescents. Among the determinants of the tendency to HRBs in adolescents, psychological variables are of particular importance at the individual, social, and family levels. Good mental health can improve quality of life, while poor mental health can make it worse.

Externalizing Risk Pathways for Adolescent Substance Use and Its Developmental Onset: A Canadian Birth Cohort Study: Trajectoires de comportements extériorisés et le risque pour l'initiation et l'usage de substances des adolescents : Une étude de cohorte de naissance canadienne

OBJECTIVE

Only a minority of drug and alcohol users develops a substance use disorder. Previous studies suggest that this differential vulnerability commonly reflects a developmental trajectory characterized by diverse externalizing behaviors. In this study, we examined the relation between child and adolescent externalizing behaviors and adolescent substance use in a prospectively followed Canadian birth cohort, accounting for the temporal sequence of a wide variety of contributing factors.

METHODS

Two hundred and forty-two adolescents followed since birth (date range: 1996 to 2012) were assessed on externalizing behavior (age 17 months to 16 years), alcohol and cannabis use at age 16, age of alcohol use onset, family history of substance use problems, family functioning (age 11 to 15), sensation seeking (age 16), prenatal substance exposure, socioeconomic status (age 1 to 9), and sex.

RESULTS

Age of alcohol use onset was predicted by a family history of substance use problems, externalizing traits from ages 6 to 10 and 11 to 16, sensation seeking at age 16, prenatal alcohol and tobacco exposure and family functioning at ages 11 to 15. High frequencies of alcohol and cannabis use at age 16 were both predicted by externalizing traits from ages 11 to 16, a family history of substance use problems and sensation seeking after controlling for other individual, environmental and familial variables. The association between familial substance use problems and substance use during adolescence was partially mediated by externalizing traits from age 11 to 16.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings provide prospective evidence for a developmental risk pathway for adolescent substance use, potentially identifying those who could benefit from early interventions.

Reciprocal longitudinal associations between anxiety sensitivity and alcohol consumption/problems across adolescence: Examining anxiety as a mediator and race/ethnicity as a moderator

The conditions and populations for which anxiety sensitivity (AS; i.e., the tendency to interpret unpleasant physiological sensations as dangerous) relates to adolescent alcohol use is unclear. This study tested latent-variable cross-lagged panel modeling of AS-alcohol relations in a racially/ethnically heterogenous longitudinal youth cohort (N = 3396; 53.4% female, 45.8% Latinx) assessed annually across high school. Anxiety and race/ethnicity were tested as mediators and moderators, respectively, of AS-alcohol associations. AS prospectively predicted alcohol problems (β's = 0.05-0.07) but not alcohol consumption (β's = 0.02-0.04) across high school. Alcohol problems predicted AS at the end (β = 0.09) but not beginning (β's = 0.01-0.03) of high school and alcohol consumption predicted lower AS at the beginning (β = -0.06) but not end (β's = -0.02-0.01) of high school. Anxiety mediated AS's predictive effects on alcohol problems (βindirect's = 0.01, 95% CI [0.003, 0.03]) across high school. Race/ethnicity did not moderate interrelations of AS, anxiety, and alcohol outcomes. These findings lend support to the risk factor model of AS on alcohol problems (but not consumption) through anxiety and the scar/complication model whereby alcohol problems may exacerbate AS later in adolescence. Addressing reciprocal risk processes between AS, anxiety, and alcohol problems warrant consideration in adolescent behavioral health promotion for various racial/ethnic populations.