Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University School of Public Health.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2022 Oct;30(5):701-713. doi: 10.1037/pha0000472. Epub 2021 May 10.
Substance use in young adulthood and polysubstance users (PSU), in particular, pose unique risks for adverse consequences. Prior research on young adult PSU has identified multiple classes of users, but most work has focused on college students. We examined PSU patterns by age and college attendance during young adulthood in two nationally representative samples. Using National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) Wave 1 and NESARC-III data sets, multigroup latent class analysis (MG-LCA) was employed to examine PSU patterns based on age (18-24 vs. 25-34) and determine whether solutions were similar (i.e., statistically invariant) by college attendance/graduation. Classes were estimated by binary past-year use of sedatives, tranquilizers, opioids/painkillers, heroin, amphetamines/stimulants, cocaine, hallucinogens, club drugs, and inhalants, and past-year frequency of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use. PSU patterns are largely replicated across waves. Model fit supported 3-class solutions in each MG-LCA: Low frequency-limited-range PSU (alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis only), medium-to-high frequency limited-range PSU (alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis only), and extended-range PSU (ER PSU; all substances). Apart from one model, MG-LCA solutions were not invariant by college attendance/graduation, suggesting important differences between these groups. Except for alcohol, cannabis, and cigarette use frequency, results showed that probabilities of illicit and prescription drug use declined in the older age group. Findings also supported examining college and noncollege youth separately when studying PSU. ER PSU may be uniquely vulnerable to coingesting substances, particularly for nongraduates, warranting future research to classify patterns of simultaneous PSU and identify predictors and consequences of high-risk combinations (e.g., alcohol and opioids). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
年轻人的物质使用，尤其是多物质使用者（PSU），会带来独特的不良后果风险。先前关于年轻成年 PSU 的研究已经确定了多个人群类别，但大多数研究都集中在大学生群体上。我们在两个具有全国代表性的样本中，根据年龄和大学入学情况来研究年轻成年 PSU 模式。我们使用全国酒精相关情况调查（NESARC）第 1 波和 NESARC-III 数据集，采用多群组潜在类别分析（MG-LCA）来根据年龄（18-24 岁与 25-34 岁）来检查 PSU 模式，并确定解决方案是否相似（即，在统计学上不变），即是否根据大学入学/毕业情况而有所不同。通过过去一年使用镇静剂、安定剂、阿片类药物/止痛药、海洛因、苯丙胺/兴奋剂、可卡因、迷幻剂、俱乐部药物和吸入剂，以及过去一年使用酒精、香烟和大麻的频率，对类别进行了估计。PSU 模式在两个波次中都得到了广泛的复制。每个 MG-LCA 的模型拟合支持 3 类解决方案：低频率有限范围 PSU（仅酒精、香烟和大麻）、中到高频率有限范围 PSU（仅酒精、香烟和大麻）和扩展范围 PSU（ER PSU；所有物质）。除了一个模型外，MG-LCA 的解决方案不受大学入学/毕业的影响，这表明这两个群体之间存在重要差异。除了酒精、大麻和香烟使用频率外，研究结果表明，年龄较大的群体中非法和处方药物使用的概率下降。研究结果还支持在研究 PSU 时分别研究大学生和非大学生。ER PSU 可能特别容易同时摄入多种物质，尤其是对于未毕业的学生，这需要进一步研究来对同时使用多种物质的模式进行分类，并确定高风险组合（例如，酒精和阿片类药物）的预测因素和后果。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
