Trajectories of Substance Use among Child Welfare-Involved Youth: Longitudinal Associations with Child Maltreatment History and Emotional/Behavior Problems

The roles of child maltreatment and fathers in the development of substance use in an at-risk sample of youth: A longitudinal study

“…In contrast, in a longitudinal study of 7,214 adolescents, emotional abuse and neglect, but not physical and sexual abuse, were related to cannabis misuse and heavy drinking by age 21 (Stranthearn et al, 2020). Another longitudinal study, which focused on trajectories of substance use among child welfare-involved youth, found that the high-stable substance use trajectory class, neglect, was related to increase in substance use over time whereas physical abuse was not significantly related to increases in substance use over time (Yampolskaya et al, 2019). Taken together, emotional abuse and neglect appear to have been most consistently associated with increasing substance use over time in adolescents.…”

“…This study sought to investigate the longitudinal impacts of child maltreatment and father involvement on the developmental trajectory of substance use among high-risk youth. Based on prior studies (Schnitzer & Ewigman, 2005;Scribano et al, 2013;Shin et al, 2012;Stranthearn et al, 2020;Yampolskaya et al, 2019), we hypothesized that maltreatment perpetrated by fathers (alone or together with mother) and emotional abuse and neglect would be associated with a higher initial number and faster increase in the number of substances used over time. We also hypothesized that higher quality of fatherchild relationships would predict lower initial number and slower increase in the number of substances used over time among adolescents.…”

Predictors of empirically-supported interventions following structured functional assessment.

“…Most youth who were assessed to have substance use related issues reported being negatively influenced by their peers, parents, and environments. Prior research has established peer, sibling, and parental substance involvement as a potent risk factor for substance use or dependence (Aarons et al, 2008;Yampolskaya et al, 2019). This is especially important to note in light of the fact that more than one quarter of the present sample's caregivers were assessed to have substance use related concerns.…”

“…However, this is primarily due to differences in sampling frames. Evidence clearly indicates that older age is a risk factor for substance abuse (Yampolskaya, Chuang, Walker, 2019). Most studies that have investigated substance use among child welfare involved populations have sampled older youth; the present sample includes children as young as five.…”

“…However, the CANS assessment may also be of value for substance use prevention within this vulnerable population. Research has identified a number of specific factors that increase the probability of later substance involvement among OOHC populations including clinical level behavior problems, delinquency, dissociative symptoms, a history of sexual abuse, and exposure to domestic violence (Aarons et al, 2008;Goldstein et al, 2011;Traube et al, 2012;Yampolskaya et al, 2019). As all of these factors are assessed to some degree in the KY CANS 5+, clinicians can identify and proactively target those clients whose experiences and symptoms suggest an elevated risk for substance use, even if there is no current indication of substance involvement.…”