Neighborhood, Family, and Peer Factors Associated with Early Adolescent Smoking and Alcohol Use

Abstract

There is broad agreement that neighborhood contexts are important for adolescent development, but there is less consensus about their association with adolescent smoking and alcohol use. Few studies have examined associations between neighborhood socioeconomic contexts and smoking and alcohol use while also accounting for differences in family and peer risk factors for substance use. Data drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project (N = 808), a gender-balanced (female = 49%), multiethnic, theory-driven longitudinal study originating in Seattle, WA, were used to estimate trajectories of smoking and alcohol use from 5th to 9th grade. Time-varying measures of neighborhood socioeconomic, family, and peer factors were associated with smoking and alcohol use at each wave after accounting for average growth in smoking and alcohol use over time and demographic differences. Results indicated that living in more socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, lower family income, lower family general functioning, more permissive family smoking environments, and affiliation with deviant peers were independently associated with increased smoking. Lower family functioning, more permissive family alcohol use environments, and deviant peers were independently associated with increased alcohol use. The effect of neighborhood disadvantage on smoking was mediated by family income and deviant peers while the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on alcohol use was mediated by deviant peers alone. Family functioning and family substance use did not mediate associations between neighborhood disadvantage and smoking or alcohol use. The results highlight the importance of neighborhood, family, and peer factors in early adolescent smoking and alcohol use. Future studies should examine the unique association of neighborhood disadvantage with adolescent smoking net of family socioeconomics, functioning, and substance use, as well as peer affiliations. Better understanding of the role of contextual factors in early adolescent smoking and alcohol use can help bolster efforts to prevent both short and long harms from substance use.

Relative influence of perceived peer and family substance use on adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use across middle and high school

“…Thus, it is likely that the social learning effects of adults’ alcohol and cigarette use on adolescent behavior were present prior to middle school and are relatively constant. Also, for the nominated “most important adults” who were adolescents’ parents, concordance may also reflect shared genetic or environmental risk factors (Cambron, Kosterman, Catalano, Guttmannova, & Hawkins, 2018), which may be relatively stable across time. In contrast, concordance with adult marijuana use did vary by grade, peaking in middle school and then remaining more constant throughout high school.…”

Stratified Multilevel Logistic Regression Modeling for Risk Factors of Adolescent Obesity in Tennessee

“…Further, the school environment is a contributing factor to peer influences on smoking. An individual's peer network and reflective school norms have been shown to be significantly associated with smoking (21,22). Another item was the percentage of students who reported having attended HIV/AIDS class in school, due to its inclusion in Tennessee's comprehensive health education program (23).…”

“…Several studies have suggested peer influence as being the most important and consistent factors of adolescent tobacco use (10,20,24,25). The risk of an adolescent currently smoking is significantly associated with their peer network especially if one or two best friends smoke (21). The logic of classifying this variable on the class level relates to proximity of peers within same classes and recognized associations between peers and smoking status.…”

“…One such risk factor could be peer influence. In fact, research has shown the importance of peer group on smoking (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25) and the sharp incline in the relationship of having ever smoked and obesity specifically among between ages 13 to 14.…”

A Self-Reflection Program for Smoking Cessation in Adolescents: A Phenomenological Study

“…To date, studies on factors related to youth smoking [4,11] and various programs, such as student counselling and health education to encourage smoking cessation and prevent secondhand smoke exposure, [12][13][14][15] have been developed. However, there is a lack of sequential intervention programs that aim to understand the factors related to teen tobacco use, provide in-depth and continuous management of teen smoking, and initiate a change in attitudes toward smoking by incorporating a meaningful vision into their lives.…”