The Construction of Risk and Protective Factor Indices for Adolescent Alcohol and other Drug Use

Abstract

This paper applies the risk factor approach to assess the influence of protection and risk on five measures of substance use: overall involvement in drugs, frequent alcohol use, frequent illegal drug use, frequent drug abuse, and quantity of daily cigarette consumption. For each measure, it was hypothesized that an index of risk factors would serve to increase the likelihood of the occurrence of problem behavior and that an index of protection would result in a reduction. It was also hypothesized that under conditions of high risk the effect of protection would moderate the influence of risk factors more forcefully than under conditions of low risk. Data were obtained from a self-report questionnaire containing over 60 risk and protective measures administered to nearly 400 grade 9 students in 7 high schools located in Toronto, Canada. Measures were tested in a series of regression equations to construct indices of risk and protective factors for each substance measure. Results supported the hypothesis of separate risk and protective factor main effects for all categories of substances. Evidence of moderate to strong interaction effects (i.e., a moderating influence of protection) were also noted. Implications are discussed for methods of identifying high risk youth as well as programs designed to prevent/reduce problem behaviors among this group.

The Relative Contributions of Parental and Sibling Substance Use to Adolescent Tobacco, Alcohol, and other Drug Use

“…Several studies report moderately strong correlations for sibling substance use (Boyle et al, 2001;Brook et al;DeWitt et al, 1995;Durrington, Fagan, & Chant, 2003;McGue et al). Substance use by siblings has been demonstrated in multivariate analyses to increase the odds of adolescent smoking, drinking, or other drug use (Boyle et al;Durrington et al;Epstein et al, 2002;Miller & Volk;O'Connell, Alexander, & Dobson, 1981;Rowe & Gulley, 1992;Unger & Chen, 1999).…”

“…Investigations that compare sibling and parent influences upon substance use generally find a stronger association between siblings than for parents and children (Boyle et al, 2001;Brook et al, 1990;DeWitt et al, 1995;Epstein et al, 2002;Unger & Chen, 1999). For example, Boyle and colleagues found that tobacco, alcohol, and drug use by siblings increased the odds of similar behavior for respondents, but there was no relationship between parental and respondent use.…”

“…Jake M. Najman, Ph.D., has a joint appointment as Director of the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre, School of Population Health and Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Science, University of Queensland. both sources of influence generally find that peer use is a stronger predictor of adolescent substance use than is use by parents (Brook, Whiteman, Gordon, & Brook, 1990;DeWitt et al, 1995;Unger & Chen, 1999).…”

“…Parental use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs increases the likelihood that children will also engage in substance use (DeWitt, Silverman, Goodstadt, & Stoduto, 1995;Epstein, Williams, Botvin, 2002;Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992;McGue, Sharma, Benson, 1996;Unger & Chen, 1999). While a genetic transmission of a propensity to use drugs, particularly alcohol, has been noted (McGue et al), parental use is typically understood to lead to children's use through social learning processes.…”

Childhood and adolescent antecedents of drug and alcohol problems: A longitudinal study

“…Substance use and other deviant behaviors typically peak in adolescence and then decline with the transition to adulthood (Chen and Kandel, 1995;DeWit et al, 1995;Hirschi and Gottfredson, 1983;Wolfgang et al, 1987), but some individuals continue use and develop use disorders in adulthood. Some evidence suggests that those who continue having behavior problems as adults have distinct childhood characteristics compared to those whose problems are limited to adolescence.…”