Social Demographics, Marginalization, and Adolescent Substance Use

描述(申请人提供)：青春期使用药物是一个经常被研究的现象，但这项研究通常没有从生态学的角度看待病因学。学校是青春期社会化的主要背景，了解学校组成对物质使用的影响对于预防工作至关重要。促进学校多样性一直是一项主要的立法目标，但这类政策的意外公共健康后果往往被忽视--多样性从经验上确立了学术上的好处，但它也并非没有挑战，特别是在儿童和青少年的社会情感福祉方面，他们与学校的人口结构不相适应，使他们面临被社会边缘化的风险。尽管理论和经验证据都表明，这种人口结构不匹配(即，在学校里几乎没有相同的种族/民族或相同的社会经济同龄人)对药物使用是否有风险仍有待探索，尽管理论和经验证据都表明可能会有风险。因此，这个项目的总体目标是调查那些没有足够多相同种族/民族的同龄人或学校中具有相似SES的同龄人是否、为什么以及何时更有可能饮酒和吸毒。在这里，我使用来自Add Health的数据来探索三个具体的查询领域。首先，我将确定在种族/民族和社会经济方面处于学校边缘的青少年，并将他们的物质使用情况与同龄人中具有更大代表性的青少年进行比较。这类研究将突出以学术为重点的重大学校改革的潜在意外健康风险。第二，我将测试边缘化可能影响物质使用的两种机制：a)边缘化是否会引发不适应情绪，进而导致青少年使用物质；b)对于物质使用更规范的学校和同龄人群体，边缘化与物质使用之间的联系是否更强。第三，该项目将探讨边缘化阈值(定义为15%或更多相同人口的同龄人)在多大程度上有效地涵盖了防止使用药物和不符合条件所需的临界质量。尽管美国国家教育研究院建议将同龄人的门槛设为15%，以防止边缘化的有害影响，但他们的报告承认，这一估计需要实证验证。与以前探索临界质量问题的小规模研究不同，该项目使用了一个具有全国代表性的大样本来经验地确定防止社会边缘化所需的临界质量。早期药物的使用和滥用在整个生命过程中都会产生有害的影响，这个项目有可能扩大我们对学校作文对这种危险的健康行为的影响的理解。通过阐明边缘化影响物质使用的机制，该项目将突出干预的关键点，并通过确定早期物质使用的背景先兆，该项目将为寻求更好地促进美国公立学校多样化的全面学术好处的教育政策努力提供信息。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究调查了青少年和学校之间的人口结构不匹配如何导致危险的健康行为--酒精和药物使用--这些行为可能会扰乱生活轨迹。这项研究与政策有关，因为它认识到，多样性虽然对学术发展很重要，但也可能存在风险，需要确定和解决这些风险，以便充分实现学校多样性的教育好处。通过研究物质使用的病因学--物质使用是否代表着一种应对数字边缘化和社会不适应的形式，以及/或者是否意味着通过匹配学校和同龄人的物质使用规范来融入社会--这项研究将突出促进美国年轻人更健康福祉的关键干预要点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Substance use during adolescence is an oft-studied phenomenon, but this research generally fails to take an ecological perspective on etiology. Schools are a primary context of socialization during adolescence, and understanding how school composition matters for substance use is critical for prevention efforts. Promoting school diversity has been a major legislative goal, but the unintended public health consequences of such policies are often ignored-diversity has empirically established academic benefits, yet it is not without its challenges, particularly regarding the socioemotional well-being of children and adolescents whose lack of demographic "fit" with their schools puts them at risk for social marginalization. Whether this demographic misfit (i.e., having few same-race/ethnic or same-socioeconomic peers in school) is risky for substance use has yet to be explored, although both theory and empirical evidence suggests that it might. The general goal of this project, therefore, is to examine whether, why, and when students who do not have a critical mass of same-race/ethnicity peers or peers of similar SES in school are more likely to drink and use drugs. Here, I use data from Add Health to explore three specific areas of inquiry. First, I will identify adolescents who are at the numeric margins of their schools both racially/ethnically and socioeconomically and compare their substance use to that of adolescents who have greater representation of same-demographic peers. Such research will highlight the potential unintended health risks of major academically-focused school reforms. Second, I will test two mechanisms by which marginalization might influence substance use: a) whether marginalization initiates feelings of misfit that, in turn, contribute to adolescents' substance use and b) whether the link between marginalization and substance use is stronger for students in schools and peer groups in which substance use is more normative. Third, the project will explore the extent to which the marginalization threshold (defined as 15% or more same-demographic peers) effectively captures the critical mass necessary for protection against substance use and lack of fit. Although the National Academy of Education recommends the 15% same- demographic peer threshold to protect against the harmful effects of marginalization, their report acknowledges that this estimate needs empirical validation. As a departure from previous, small-scale studies that explore the critical mass question, this project uses a large, nationally representative sample to empirically identify the critical mass needed to protect against social marginalization. Early substance use and abuse exert pernicious effects across the life course, and this project has the potential to expand our understanding of the implications of school composition for such risky health behaviors. By elucidating the mechanisms by which marginalization affects substance use, the project will highlight critical points of intervention, and by identifying the contextual antecedents of early substance use, the project will inform educational policy efforts that seek to better promote the full academic benefits of diversity in America's public schools. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study examines how demographic mismatches between adolescents and schools can contribute to risky health behaviors-alcohol and drug use-that can disrupt life course trajectories. The study is policy relevant, as it recognizes that diversity, although important for academic development, might also carry risks that need to be identified and addressed in order for the full educational benefits of school diversity to be realized. By examining an etiology of substance use-whether substance use represents a form of coping with numeric marginalization and social misfit and/or signifies an effort to fit in by matching the substance use norms of one's school and peer group-the study will highlight critical points of intervention to promote healthier well- being for American youth.