Farley Julee P, Kim-Spoon Jungmeen
Research Coordinator, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, VA, USA.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, VA, USA.
J Addict Res Ther. 2015;6(2). doi: 10.4172/2155-6105.1000220. Epub 2015 May 8.
Adolescent substance use is an increasing problem in the United States, and some researchers posit a bidirectional relation between adolescent substance use and the personality trait of impulsivity (e.g., Quinn, Stappenbeck, & Fromme, 2011). Friend substance use has been shown to be a powerful predictor of adolescent substance use, with prior research suggesting a bidirectional relation between adolescent substance use and friend substance use (e.g., Simons-Morton & Chen, 2006). Extant literature has not tested the bidirectional relation between adolescent substance use and impulsivity with longitudinal data nor has it examined this relation while considering the bidirectional relation with the social context factor of friend substance use. Using three waves of longitudinal data, we tested if there was a bidirectional relation between adolescent substance use and impulsivity while also examining the influences of friend substance use. Participants were 131 adolescents (male = 55%, mean age = 13 years at Wave 1). We tested nested models and examined whether adding equality constraints degraded the model fit using a Wald test. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that, after controlling for baseline levels of substance use, impulsivity predicted adolescent and friend substance use over time, whereas adolescent and friend substance use did not predict impulsivity. Adolescents with substance using friends were likely to increase their own substance use. The findings imply that aiming at both improving adolescents' ability to regulate impulsivity and deterring associations with friends who are using substances is essential for prevention and intervention efforts against substance use development in adolescents.
青少年药物使用在美国是一个日益严重的问题，一些研究人员认为青少年药物使用与冲动性人格特质之间存在双向关系（例如，奎因、斯塔彭贝克和弗罗梅，2011年）。朋友的药物使用已被证明是青少年药物使用的有力预测因素，先前的研究表明青少年药物使用与朋友的药物使用之间存在双向关系（例如，西蒙斯 - 莫顿和陈，2006年）。现有文献尚未用纵向数据检验青少年药物使用与冲动性之间的双向关系，也未在考虑与朋友药物使用这一社会背景因素的双向关系时考察这种关系。利用三波纵向数据，我们检验了青少年药物使用与冲动性之间是否存在双向关系，同时也考察了朋友药物使用的影响。参与者为131名青少年（男性占55%，第一波时平均年龄为13岁）。我们检验了嵌套模型，并使用 Wald 检验检查添加平等约束是否会降低模型拟合度。结构方程建模结果表明，在控制药物使用的基线水平后，冲动性随时间推移预测青少年和朋友的药物使用，而青少年和朋友的药物使用并不能预测冲动性。有使用药物朋友的青少年更有可能增加自己的药物使用。研究结果表明，旨在提高青少年调节冲动的能力以及阻止与使用药物的朋友交往，对于预防和干预青少年药物使用发展至关重要。
