Substance Use in Adolescents from High-risk Neighborhoods: Risk and Protection

描述(由申请人提供)：项目摘要：虽然研究表明，功能失调的社区通常与青少年的多种负面后果(包括药物使用)有关，但并不是所有来自此类社区的人都会出现问题行为。尽管如此，文献中还没有充分探讨功能障碍社区与青少年药物使用以及意想不到的弹性结果之间的具体机制。拟议的项目旨在通过研究青少年的社区、家庭和他们的个人特征如何与他们的药物使用存在积极和消极的关系来弥合这一差距。我们认为，通过社会传染的过程，邻里功能障碍作为一种独立的发展风险，直接在接触它的青少年中促进反社会问题。我们还认为，这些反社会问题有一个发展过程，青少年使用药物会出现学习和行为问题。最后，我们认为，积极的家庭关系可以缓解高危社区和青少年结果之间的这些负面关联，积极的家庭关系是防止社区功能障碍的一个保护因素。这些假设将使用斯普林菲尔德儿童发展项目(SCDP)的现有数据进行验证，该项目是对具有社区代表性的儿童及其母亲样本进行的前瞻性纵向研究。建议的R03将分析最后两个SCDP评估(T3和T4；N-357，其中评估了青少年的物质使用)，并将检查社区、家庭和青少年自己的行为在一年的跟踪期内如何影响他们的物质使用。使用结构方程模型(SEM)，我们将首先确定一年后，在控制了先前的物质使用和人口统计学因素后，T3邻区功能障碍是否对青少年物质使用构成风险。接下来，我们将确定青少年在T3的其他反社会问题是否中介了T3邻区功能障碍对T4物质使用的风险影响。最后，我们将通过分别分析T3邻里功能障碍、T3反社会问题和T4物质使用之间的关联，确定积极的家庭关系是否对功能失调的社区风险具有保护作用，这些青少年(A)确实有，(B)没有积极的家庭关系。相关性：如果在有积极家庭关系的青少年中，社区功能障碍对药物使用的风险影响较小(与没有这种积极关系的青少年相比)，那么将获得支持的假设，即积极的家庭关系是防止社区功能障碍的保护因素，缓冲其风险影响，并减少青少年药物使用的严重公共卫生问题。因此，可以制定更知情的预防努力，并针对来自高危社区的家庭和处于药物使用风险但尚未从事药物使用的儿童。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project summary: While research shows that dysfunctional neighborhoods are often associated with multiple negative outcomes in adolescents (including substance use), not all individuals from such neighborhoods develop problem behaviors. Still, the specific mechanisms connecting dysfunctional neighborhoods with adolescent substance use, as well as with unexpected resilient outcomes have not been adequately explored in the literature. The proposed project aims to bridge this gap, by examining how adolescents' neighborhoods, families and their individual characteristics relate both positively and negatively to their substance use. We argue that through the process of social contagion, neighborhood dysfunction acts as an independent developmental risk, to directly promote anti-social problems among adolescents exposed to it. We also argue that there is a developmental progression of these anti-social problems, with adolescent substance use being preceded by school and behavioral problems. Finally, we argue that these negative associations between high-risk neighborhoods and adolescent outcomes can be alleviated by positive family relationships, which are a protective factor against neighborhood dysfunction. These hypotheses will be tested using the existing data from the Springfield Child Development Project (SCDP), a prospective longitudinal study of a community-representative sample of children and their mothers. The proposed R03 will analyze the final two SCDP assessments (T3 and T4; N - 357, in which adolescent substance use was assessed), and will examine how neighborhoods, families, and adolescents' own behavior impact their substance use over a one year follow up period. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we will first determine whether T3 neighborhood dysfunction is a risk for adolescent substance use one year later, after controlling for prior substance use and demographics. Next, we will determine whether adolescents' other anti-social problems at T3 mediate the risk effect of T3 neighborhood dysfunction on T4 substance use. Finally, we will determine whether positive family relationships have protective effects against the risk of dysfunctional neighborhoods, by separately analyzing the associations between T3 neighborhood dysfunction, T3 anti-social problems, and T4 substance use in adolescents who (a) do have, and (b) do not have positive family relationships. Relevance: If risk effects of neighborhood dysfunction on substance use are lessened in adolescents with positive family relationships (compared to adolescents without such positive relationships), then support will be obtained for the hypothesis that positive family relationships are a protective factor against neighborhood dysfunction, buffering its risk effects and reducing the serious public health problem of adolescent substance use. Consequently, more informed preventive efforts can be developed and aimed at families from high-risk neighborhoods and at children who are at risk for, but have not yet engaged in substance use.