Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T06:47:43.055Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The relation of adolescent substance use to young adult autonomy, positive activityinvolvement, and perceived competence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1999

LAURIE CHASSIN
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
STEVEN C. PITTS
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
CHRISTIAN DELUCIA
Affiliation:
Arizona State University

Abstract

The current paper uses data from a longitudinal study of a high-risk sample to test the relation between adolescent alcohol and drug use and later young adult autonomy, positive activity involvement, and perceived competence. Participants (children of alcoholics and demographically matched controls) were assessed in three annual interviews in adolescence (mean age: 12.7 years at Time 1) and then again 5–7 years later, in young adulthood (median age: 20 years). Path analyses and latent growth curve models tested the effects of adolescent substance use on both self-reported and collateral-reported outcomes, controlling for correlated risk factors (parental alcoholism, adolescent psychopathology, and parental support), preexisting levels of the outcome, and concurrent young adult substance use. Results showed that adolescent drug use had a significant, unique negative effect on later autonomy and perceived competence. Alcohol use effects were more complex. Adolescent heavy drinking was associated with less positive adult outcomes, but more so in collateral reports than in self-reported outcomes. Moreover, young adult heavy drinking was either uncorrelated with or positively correlated with higher levels of perceived competence, suggesting different developmental significance of alcohol use in adolescence than in young adulthood.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)