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Developmental cascades: Linking adolescent substance use, affiliation with substance use promoting peers, and academic achievement to adult substance use disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2010

Moira Haller*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Elizabeth Handley
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Laurie Chassin
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Kaitlin Bountress
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Moira Haller, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 South McAllister, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ 85287-1104; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

Using a high-risk community sample (N = 405), the current study examined developmental cascades among substance use, affiliation with substance use promoting peers, and academic achievement over an 18-year period and tested whether these pathways mediated the influence of parental alcoholism on adult alcohol and drug use disorders. Results showed that the influence of parental alcoholism on adult drug disorders was mediated by developmental cascades across all three domains, whereas the influence of parental alcoholism on adult alcohol disorders was mediated through affiliation with substance use promoting peers and persistence in binge drinking. Adolescent drug use had more implications for adult outcomes than did adolescent alcohol use, which was less likely to spill over into other domains of functioning. Findings indicated that adolescent risk factors had indirect rather than unique effects on adult substance use disorders, suggesting that adolescent risk is not immutable and is largely mediated by later influences.

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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