No abstract

Tested propositions from a model of vulnerability and protective factors with a multiethnic sample of 1,289 urban adolescents, aged 11-13 years. The criterion variable was a composite score for cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. Multiple regression analyses indicated that vulnerability factors (negative life events, negative affect) were related to a higher level of substance use, and protective factors (parent emotional and instrumental support, academic and adult competence, positive affect) were related to a lower level of substance use; peer competence was positively related to substance use in a multivariate model. There was a significant overall interaction of Vulnerability x Protective Factors, consistent with a stress-buffering effect. Individual interactions for Life Events x Family Support, Life Events x Competence, and Negative x Positive Affect also were consistent with buffering effects. Implications for theories of substance use and primary prevention are discussed.

The authors surveyed a cohort of 1,184 adolescents in the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Measures of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use and of constructs from 3 theoretical models of substance use were obtained at each point. Clustering analysis for 3-wave substance use data indicated subgroups of nonusers, minimal experimenters, late starters, and escalators. Discriminant function analyses tested whether study variables differentiated the subgroups. One discriminant function accounted for the majority of between-group association; it had loadings for (high) life stress, nonadaptive coping, deviance-prone attitudes, and parental and peer substance use, and (low) parental support, academic competence, and behavioral control. Escalators were high on this function; late starters and experimenters had intermediate values; and nonusers were low on the function. Implications for theories of vulnerability to substance abuse are discussed.

The authors tested a mediational model of temperament dimensions and substance use with a sample of 1,826 urban adolescents, M age 12.3 years. Five scales from the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R) were administered together with measures of substance (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana) use and measures of related variables derived from a self-regulation model. Unique contributions to substance use were found for DOTS-R dimensions of high activity level (positively related) and positive mood (inversely related). High activity level and low positive mood were also related to lower levels of parental support. Analyses, including multiple regression and structural modeling, identified generalized self-control, maladaptive coping (anger and helplessness), novelty seeking, and affiliation with peer substance users as mediating the effect of temperament on substance use, with control for effects of parental support. Parental support was inversely related to substance use through several pathways. Implications for the theory of vulnerability are discussed.