Moderators of the association between peer and target adolescent substance use

Abstract

Associating with substance using peers is generally considered as one of the most important predictors of adolescent substance use. However, peer association does not affect all adolescents in the same way. To better understand when and under what conditions peer association is most linked with adolescent substance use (SU), this review focuses on the factors that may operate as moderators of this association. The review highlighted several potential moderators reflecting adolescents' individual characteristics (e.g., pubertal status, genes and personality), peer and parental factors (e.g., nature of relationships and parental monitoring), and contextual factors (e.g., peer, school and neighborhood context). As peer association is a broad concept, important methodological aspects were also addressed in order to illustrate how they can potentially bias interpretation. Taking these into account, we suggest that, while the effects of some moderators are clear (e.g., parental monitoring and sensation seeking), others are less straightforward (e.g., neighborhood) and need to be further examined. This review also provides recommendations for addressing different methodological concerns in the study of moderators, including: the use of longitudinal and experimental studies and the use of mediated moderation. These will be key for developing theory and effective prevention.

Adolescents Admitted to In-Patient Treatment with Alcohol Intoxication: Risk and Resilience Factors Associated with Problematic Alcohol Use

“…For example, higher parental monitoring has also been found to be associated with less heavy drinking [16,39] and less problematic alcohol use in adolescence [40]. Also, our finding that deviant peer behavior is associated with problematic alcohol consumption in AIA is in accordance with other studies in adolescent populations [41,42].…”

Peer drug use and adolescent polysubstance use: Do parenting and school factors moderate this association?

“…Our hypotheses were that (1) family and school factors would have an impact on adolescent polysubstance use, and (2) these factors would moderate peer drug influences on polysubstance use. While there is some evidence that parents and schools can buffer the negative influence of drug using peers (Marschall-Lévesque et al, 2014), to our knowledge, this is the first study that tests the moderation effect of family and school factors on peer influence in the context of adolescent polysubstance use.…”

“…There is strong evidence that parental disapproval, monitoring and family conflict are each strongly related to adolescent use of a specific drug Kelly et al, 2011;Ryan, Jorm, & Lubman, 2010), and there is some evidence that these parental factors can also mitigate the influence of peers who use substances (Marschall-Lévesque, Castellanos-Ryan, Vitaro, & Séguin, 2014). However, this moderating effect of parents on peer influence was not examined in the context of polysubstance use.…”

Risky substance use and peer pressure in Swiss young men: Test of moderation effects

“…However, PP is a multidimensional construct and some studies suggest that PP toward misconduct is associated with substance use, whereas other aspects of PP may have a protective influence on substance use (Studer et al, 2014). Moreover, peers' influence does not affect the substance use of all adolescents and young adults in the same way (Marschall-Lévesque et al, 2014).…”