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Matson PA, Stankov I, Krutkova M, Flessa S, Fichtenberg CM, Ellen JM. Investigating the Relative Influence of Romantic Sex Partners and Close Friends on Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use. PREVENTION SCIENCE : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION RESEARCH 2023; 24:676-687. [PMID: 37115474 DOI: 10.1007/s11121-023-01536-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
A large body of research has identified peer exposure as a key factor driving adolescent substance use. However, findings on the role of sex partners are less robust and mixed. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the independent contribution of close friends' and sex partners' alcohol and marijuana use on adolescents' use of these substances. A secondary data analysis of social network data collected in 2000-2002 from a household sample of African American youth (14-19 years old) in the Bayview and Hunter's Point neighborhoods of San Francisco was conducted. Index participants and their nominated close friends and romantic sex partners (N = 104 triads) self-reported recent alcohol and marijuana use (defined as any use in the past 3 months). Generalized estimated equations were used to estimate the independent association between adolescent's recent substance use and their friend's and sex partner's use. Adolescents with a marijuana-using romantic sex partner had a nearly six-fold higher odds of using marijuana compared to adolescents with a non-using partner, controlling for close friend's marijuana use and other confounders [OR:5.69, 95%CI: 1.94, 16.7]; no association with close friend's marijuana use was found. A similar pattern was observed for alcohol use. Adolescents with an alcohol-using romantic sex partner had increased odds of using alcohol compared to adolescents with a non-using partner, controlling for close friend's alcohol use and other confounders [OR:2.40, 95%CI: 1.02, 5.63]; no association with close friend's alcohol use was found. Romantic sex partners may play a unique and significant role in adolescent substance use. Peer-focused interventions may be more effective if they consider romantic sex partners. Future research should consider the role of romantic sex partners in changing social context related to substance use from adolescence to young adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela A Matson
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA.
| | - Ivana Stankov
- Dornsife School of Public Health, Urban Health Collaborative, Drexel University, 3600 Market St, 7th Floor, PA, 19104, Philadelphia, USA
- UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, SAHMRI, North Tce, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia
| | - Mariya Krutkova
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
| | - Sarah Flessa
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
| | - Caroline M Fichtenberg
- Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 465, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
| | - Jonathan M Ellen
- Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Rm 2025, 200 N. Wolfe St., David M. Rubenstein Child Health Building, Baltimore, 21287, MD, USA
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Cutrín O, Avalos MRA, Corona MD, Nuño-Gutiérrez BL, Medina-Mora ME, Real T, Mendoza-Meléndez MÁ, Lara-Valencia F, Ayers SL, Kulis SS, Marsiglia FF. Use of Violence as a Strategy of Early Adolescents for Rejecting Drug Offers in Mexican Cities. REVISTA MEXICANA DE PSICOLOGIA (MEXICO CITY, MEXICO) 2022; 39:18-30. [PMID: 36108313 PMCID: PMC9450683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Drug use and violence are two interconnected problems in violent urban contexts, leading to coercive drug offers. In this study, relationships between drug use, use of violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers, and exposure to neighborhood violence were analyzed in Mexican students. Data were obtained through a self-report survey and focus groups with lower secondary students in three Mexican metropolitan areas. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that students who had used or would use violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers presented a more problematic psychosocial profile, with exposure to neighborhood violence as the main predictor. These results suggest that Mexican students in violent cities may resort to violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olalla Cutrín
- Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, España
| | - Marvyn R Arévalo Avalos
- Latinx Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health, University of California, Berkeley, Estados Unidos
| | - M Dolores Corona
- Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México
| | | | | | - Tania Real
- Centro de Investigación en Salud Mental Global, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, México
| | | | | | - Stephanie L Ayers
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Estados Unidos
| | - Stephen S Kulis
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Estados Unidos
| | - Flavio F Marsiglia
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Estados Unidos
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Cutrín O, Mac Fadden I, Ayers SL, Kulis SS, Gómez-Fraguela JA, Marsiglia FF. Applicability of the Theory of Planned Behavior for Predicting Alcohol Use in Spanish Early Adolescents. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:E8539. [PMID: 33217907 PMCID: PMC7698639 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17228539] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Revised: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 11/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), intentions to perform a specific behavior are the result of attitudes, norms, and perceived control, and in turn, intentions and perceived control are the main predictors of the behavior. This study aimed to test the applicability of TPB in predicting alcohol use in normative pre-adolescents. The sample was composed of 755 Spanish adolescents aged 11 to 15 (M = 12.24; SD = 0.56), 47.1% females, from 12 state secondary schools in Spain. The results of path analysis indicate that positive attitudes towards alcohol, favorable norms towards alcohol, and offer vulnerability (perceived control) are significantly positively related to intentions to use alcohol as well as negatively related to actual behavioral control (i.e., actual strategies to avoid alcohol use). In turn, intentions to use and actual control predict higher alcohol frequency and heavy drinking. Significant indirect effects of these antecedents were found on alcohol outcomes through the mediation of intentions and actual control. The findings suggest that the validity and applicability of the TPB in normative pre-adolescents depend on the severity of alcohol use and point to a need to consider negative social influence in decision making processes in early adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olalla Cutrín
- Department of Psychobiology and Clinical Psychology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15705 A Coruña, Spain;
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Arizona, AZ 85281, USA; (S.L.A.); (S.S.K.); (F.F.M.)
| | - Isotta Mac Fadden
- Department of Nursing, Universidad de Sevilla, 41004 Sevilla, Spain;
| | - Stephanie L. Ayers
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Arizona, AZ 85281, USA; (S.L.A.); (S.S.K.); (F.F.M.)
| | - Stephen S. Kulis
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Arizona, AZ 85281, USA; (S.L.A.); (S.S.K.); (F.F.M.)
| | - Jose Antonio Gómez-Fraguela
- Department of Psychobiology and Clinical Psychology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15705 A Coruña, Spain;
| | - Flavio F. Marsiglia
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Arizona, AZ 85281, USA; (S.L.A.); (S.S.K.); (F.F.M.)
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Kulis SS, Marsiglia FF, Nuño-Gutiérrez BL, Lozano MD, Medina-Mora ME. Traditional gender roles and substance-use behaviors, attitudes, exposure, and resistance among early adolescents in large cities of Mexico. JOURNAL OF SUBSTANCE USE 2017; 23:471-480. [PMID: 30705610 DOI: 10.1080/14659891.2017.1405088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated the associations between traditional gender roles (TGRs) and substance use among early adolescents in Mexico's largest cities. The sample of seventh grade students (n = 4,932) attended 26 public schools in Mexico City, Guadalajara, or Monterrey in 2014. Outcomes included recent alcohol, binge drinking, cigarette and marijuana use, and lifetime poly-substance use; substance-use intentions, norms, attitudes, and expectancies; and substance-use exposure (peer use, offers) and resistance (refusal confidence, refusal skills, and decision-making skills). A TGR scale assessed endorsement of a polarized gender division of family labor and power. As hypothesized, among males, TGRs were consistently associated with poorer outcomes, and this association was usually stronger for males than for females. In contrast, among females there was no evidence that TGRs were associated with desirable outcomes. Contrary to expectations, TGRs predicted poorer outcomes for both females and males, and to equivalent degrees, for binge drinking, cigarette use, positive substance-use expectancies, and friends' approval of substance use, and they predicted poorer outcomes for females but not for males on parental disapproval of substance use and drug-resistance skills. Interpretations highlight the persisting aspects of TGRs in the family and conflicting messages for females as Mexico undergoes changes in its gender order.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen S Kulis
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Flavio F Marsiglia
- Global Center for Applied Health Research, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Bertha L Nuño-Gutiérrez
- Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Comportamiento, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, México
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Kulis S, Booth JM, Bercerra D. Drug-Resistance Strategies of Early Adolescents in Mexico: Gender Differences in the Influence of Drug Offers and Relationship to the Offeror. Subst Use Misuse 2016; 51:370-82. [PMID: 26886157 PMCID: PMC4856063 DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2015.1110171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
To address increases in substance use among Mexican adolescents, particularly females, US prevention programs are being adapted to the Mexican cultural context. Understanding how responses to substance offers by Mexican adolescents are shaped by gender and relationships to those making offers is an important step in the adaptation process. Using data from Guadalajara, Mexico middle schools (N = 431), this pilot study tested for gender differences in the use of several drug resistance strategies commonly taught in US substance abuse prevention interventions. Results indicated that the drug-resistance strategies of Mexican early adolescents differ by gender, type of substance offered, and the youth's relationship to the offeror. Contrary to previous research on older Mexican adolescents, in this sample, females received more substance offers from age peers than males did, and employed a wider repertoire of drug-resistance strategies, including active strategies such as direct refusals. Gender differences in use of the strategies persisted after controlling for number of offers received. There were gender differences in the conditional effects of greater exposure to offers. A larger volume of alcohol and cigarette offers predicted females' use of direct strategies more strongly than for males, but less strongly than males for marijuana offers. Females' use of drug resistance strategies was more strongly associated with offers from family adults, siblings, and cousins, while males' use of strategies was predicted more strongly by offers from nonfamily adults. Interpretations and prevention implications are discussed in light of changing gender norms in Mexico and gendered patterns of substance use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Kulis
- Arizona State University, Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, 411 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, 85004-0693 United States
| | - Jaime Michelle Booth
- University of Pittsburgh, Social Work, 2117 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, 15260 United States
| | - David Bercerra
- Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave, Ste. 800, Phoenix, 85004 United States
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Jacobs W, Jeon KC, Goodson P, Valente TW. What's love got to do with it? Adolescent romantic networks and substance use. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH 2015; 21:513-522. [PMID: 34079153 PMCID: PMC8168565 DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2015.1122643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2015] [Accepted: 11/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
This study examined how romantic aspiration network characteristics at the individual level (in-degree and out-degree) are associated with substance use (i.e. smoking and drinking) among a cross-sectional sample of US adolescents (10th grade, n = 1523) from 4 high schools in Los Angeles. Findings highlighted that, with an increase in out-degree (romantic aspiration nominations made), adolescents in our sample were less likely (OR = .824, CI = .688-.986, p < .05) to report smoking in the past 30 days. Additionally, with an increase in in-degree (romantic aspiration nominations received), adolescents were more likely (OR = 1.186, CI = 1.04-1.36, p < .05) to report drinking in the past 30 days. We conclude that romantic aspirations/relations influence adolescents' substance use behaviour (i.e. smoking and drinking alcohol), particularly because of the intensity of such relationships and the desire to please or be acceptable to the other person. Moreover, understanding adolescents' aspirations/relations can be useful for the development of intervention/prevention programmes to target adolescents' substance use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wura Jacobs
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Kwon Chan Jeon
- Department of Health and Human Performance, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana, USA
| | - Patricia Goodson
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Thomas W. Valente
- Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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