Relational Peer Victimization Interacts With Depression Severity to Predict the Timing of Alcohol Use Initiation in Adolescent Girls

Abstract

Background: Peer victimization is consistently linked to adolescents' alcohol use. However, the relative influence of relational and physical peer victimization on alcohol use, and timing of drinking initiation, is not well understood. In this study, we evaluate the impact of both relational and physical peer victimization on adolescent girls' alcohol use initiation, and the extent to which depression severity moderates these associations.Methods: Participants were 2125 girls in the Pittsburgh Girls Study, a longitudinal communitybased study. Participants reported experiences of relational and physical peer victimization, depression severity, and alcohol use each year from ages 10-17. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses predicting timing of first drink were conducted in two stages, testing for main effects of peer victimization in Model 1 and moderation by depression severity in Model 2. Results:Analyses were split at age 14 to adjust for proportional hazards violations. Model 1 results supported a main effect for relational (Hazards ratio [HR]=1.83, CI: 1.46-2.28 ≤ age 13; HR=1.23, CI: 1.05-1.45 ≥ age 14) but not physical victimization on timing of alcohol use onset (HR=1.10, CI: 0.88-1.39). Model 2 results show that depression severity moderates the association between relational victimization and alcohol use initiation: the association between relational victimization and early alcohol use onset was stronger for lower depression severity (−1

Multilevel Factors Associated With Lifetime, Current, and Binge Drinking Among Korean Adolescents Based on the Ecological Model

“…Adolescents who are victimized by violence are more likely to engage in lifetime, current, and binge drinking as the OR s increase in Model 3 but are 1.73 times more likely to engage in only binge drinking in Model 4. This result is consistent with the findings of previous studies indicating that individuals victimized by violence at school are more prone to adolescent drinking (Davis et al, 2018; Meisel et al, 2018; Woerner et al, 2020). It is thought that intolerable emotions related to school violence could increase binge drinking, and the tendency of binge drinking could function as a maladjustment strategy indicating psychological regulatory disabilities (Donath et al, 2012).…”

Targets for intervention to prevent substance use in young people exposed to childhood adversity: A systematic review

“…Analyses revealed religiosity and future orientation were each protective of early adult substance use [ 61 , 62 ]. Severity of depression moderated the relationship between peer victimisation and alcohol use initiation, such that this relationship was stronger at low levels of depression [ 63 ]. The number of positive and negative self-schemas in adolescence was not found to significantly moderate the association between parental alcohol use disorder and the age of alcohol initiation for offspring [ 68 ].…”

Diagnostic accuracy of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory (CASI-4R) substance use subscale in detecting substance use disorders in youth.

“…Last, analyses collapsed all minoritized racial identities into one category due sample size constraints in a Midwestern sample. Although the CASI has demonstrated wide application and utility across different minority groups in other samples (Marmorstein, 2017; Woerner et al, 2020), distinct cultures, and countries globally (Birungi et al, 2020; Cornellà-Font et al, 2020), further investigation is clearly warranted.…”