Social Self-control, Sensation Seeking and Substance Use in Samples of US and Russian Adolescents

Abstract

Objective To compare the relations of social self-control and sensation seeking with substance use across samples of US and Russian adolescents. Methods Cross-sectional data were obtained from 362 tenth-graders from Ufa, Russia, and 965 tenth-graders from California. Results Lack of social self-control was significantly related with higher alcohol and hard drug use in the Russian sample and higher cigarette use in the US sample. Higher sensation-seeking showed significant associations with higher cigarette and alcohol use in the Russian sample and higher alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use in the US sample. Conclusion As with US adolescents, prevention programs for Russian adolescents may also benefit from being tailored to higher sensation-seekers and including self-control skills training.

Drinking Motives, Sensation Seeking, and Alcohol Use Among Thai High School Students

“…Boredom susceptibility was the strongest predictor for hazardous drinking. These findings are in concurrence with those gained in other studies (Hittner & Swickert, 2006;Pokhrel, Sussman, Sun, Kniazer, & Masagutov, 2010).…”

Social Self-Control Is a Statistically Nonredundant Correlate of Adolescent Substance Use

“…These associations are consistent across: (1) cross-sectional designs (Forster, Grigsby, Unger, & Sussman, 2015; Pokhrel, Sussman, Sun, Kniazev, & Masagutov, 2010; Sussman, McCuller & Dent, 2003) and prospective designs predicting future drug use from previous SSC (Pokhrel, Sussman, Rohrbach, & Sun, 2007; Pokhrel et al, 2013; Pokhrel, Sussman, & Stacy, 2014); (2) various settings spanning alternative (continuation) high schools (Pokhrel, Sussman, Rohrbach, & Sun, 2007; Pokhrel, Sussman, & Stacy, 2014; Sussman, McCuller & Dent, 2003), traditional high schools (Pokhrel, Sussman, Rohrbach, & Sun, 2007; Pokhrel et al, 2010; Pokhrel et al, 2013), and middle schools (Forster, Grigsby, Unger, & Sussman, 2015); and (3) several demographic strata, including predominately Mexican-American youth samples (Pokhrel et al, 2013), Russian youths (Pokhrel, Sussman, Sun, Kniazev, & Masagutov, 2010), and a relatively large percentage of African American youth samples (41% of the sample; Forster, Grigsby, Unger, & Sussman, 2015). These studies provide evidence of concurrent and predictive validity for the SSCS.…”

“…SSC is a consistent correlate of adolescent drug use and has shown some incremental predictive value in differentiating teen substance use in adolescents over and above personality disorders, sensation seeking, and demographic factors (Sussman, McCuller & Dent, 2003; Pokhrel et al, 2010; Pokhrel, Sussman, & Stacy, 2014), which is also suggestive of construct validity. However, there are several other constructs implicated in adolescent drug use that could potentially explain (or confound) this relation.…”

“…For each item, response options ranged from “Never” (1) to “Always” (4) and a mean score was computed. The internal consistencies across studies have been moderately high, ranging from .73 (Pokhrel and colleagues, 2007, 2010; Sussman and colleagues, 2003), to .76 (Forster and colleagues, 2015; Pokhrel and colleagues, 2013) to .84 (Pokhrel and colleagues, 2014). In this study the alpha coefficient was .76.…”

Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Chinese – Cultural adaptation and psychometric assessment

“…Theoretical research and empirical data indicate that sensation seeking is characterized by four sub-dimensions: (a) Experience Seeking , (b) Boredom Susceptibility , (c) Thrill and Adventure Seeking , and (d) Disinhibition (e.g., the lack of inhibition; Hoyle et al, 2002; Roberti et al, 2003; Zuckerman, 1994). Research findings repeatedly show a consistent association between sensation seeking and a number of health risk behaviors, including use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs and engagement in sexual risk behavior (Pokhrel et al, 2009; Stephenson and Helme, 2006; Bornovalova et al, 2008). …”