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Social influences on adolescent substance use.

Simons-Morton B

Chief, Prevention Research Branch, Division of Statistics, Epidemiology, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD.

Objectives: To assess the overtime relationships between adolescent and peer substance use and parenting practices. Methods: Five times from sixth to ninth grade, students (n=2453) in 7 middle schools reported smoking, drinking, and marijuana use; the number of substance-using friends; and parent practices. Relationships were assessed using latent growth curve modeling. Results: Adolescent substance use predicted the growth in substance-using friends, and substance-using friends predicted adolescent use, except for smoking. The negative over-time relationship between parenting practices and adolescent substance use was mediated by the growth in the number of substance-using friends. Conclusions: The results are consistent with both selection and socialization effects and provide evidence of the protective effects of positive parenting practices.

Published 13 August 2007 in Am J Health Behav, 31(6): 672-84.
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