A Longitudinal Examination of the Relationships among Disadvantaged Neighborhoods, Supervision, Peer Associations, and Patterns of Ethnic Minority Adolescent Substance Use
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Date
2012
Authors
Burt, Michelle
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to utilize an ecological-transactional theoretical framework and an existing longitudinal data set to examine the relationships among neighborhood context, family supervision, association with deviant peers, and patterns of substance use during adolescence. Participants included 821 youth from the Longitudinal Cohort Study of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) data set. Data include primary caregiver and youth self-report measures of adult supervision, peer associations, and substance use. Data also include community survey and systematic social observation measures of neighborhood social processes such as collective efficacy, social disorder and social capital, neighborhood disadvantage, policing, and perceived danger collected from 1994-2001 in the city of Chicago. Latent growth curve modeling analyses were used to answer the research questions. Study results were significant associations between neighborhood social processes and substance use. Contrary to previous findings, more positive neighborhood social processes were related to higher levels of substance use for females. For both the African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino groups, deviant peer associations were related to higher levels of substance use at age 12. For the Hispanic/Latino group, higher neighborhood socioeconomic status was related to greater increases in substance use over time.
Study results suggest the continued importance of research to discover sex and ethnic variation in associations among contextual influences and adolescent substance use. The current study makes a significant contribution to extant literature by examining the influence of neighborhood social processes, deviant peer associations, and supervision on substance use trajectories. Including peers, parental, and neighborhood factors&mdashin one model&mdashprovided a more comprehensive examination of how contextual influences impact the development of adolescent substance use. In addition, using a multilevel analysis with a diverse, longitudinal data set provided further insights into understanding ethnic and gender variation in the development of adolescents' substance use. Supplemental files include description of PHDCN scale items, HOME measure, Deviance of Peers measure, and items from the Substance Use Interview.
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Keywords
Adolescent development, Deviant peers, substance use, Supervision