Robert J. Pandina

Effects of the Family Environment on Adolescent Substance Use, Delinquency, and Coping Styles

This study examines the overall and relative contributions of a variety of family environment measures to a childs alcohol, marijuana and other drug use, delinquent activity, and dysfunctional methods of coping with problems. The family environment variables tapped aspects of parental behaviors and attitudes, parenting styles, and family harmony and cohesion. Data were collected as part of a prospective, longitudinal study that examined the acquisition and maintenance of a variety of behaviors. Data were gleaned at two points in time, spanning 3-year intervals, from subjects ranging in age from early to late adolescence. In general, alcohol use among the younger subjects was more strongly determined by the use and attitudes of the same sex parent. In contrast, among older subjects, fathers alcohol use was important to the offsprings use. While models predicting illicit drug use and the extent of problems related to alcohol and marijuana use fared least well, it was generally found that hostility and lack of warmth on the part of the parents contributed most to these outcomes in subjects. Finally, hostility displayed by both parents helped to determine the incidence of delinquency among sons and the use of dysfunctional coping methods among sons and daughters.

Developmental trajectories of cigarette use from early adolescence into young adulthood

This study identified developmental trajectories of cigarette smoking from early adolescence into young adulthood, and delineated whether risk factors derived from a social learning-problem behavior framework could differentiate among trajectories. Participants (N=374) were interviewed five times from age 12 until age 30/31. Using growth mixture modeling, three trajectory groups were identified--heavy/regular, occasional/maturing out, and non/experimental smokers. Being a female, having higher disinhibition, receiving lower grades, and more frequent use of alcohol or drugs significantly increased the probability of belonging to a smoking trajectory group compared with being a nonsmoker. Higher disinhibition and receiving lower grades also differentiated regular smokers from the rest of the sample. None of the risk factors distinguished occasional from regular smokers. When models were tested separately by sex, disinhibition, other drug use, and school grades were associated with smoking for both sexes. On the other hand, environmental factors, including socioeconomic status, parent smoking and friend smoking, were related to smoking for females but not for males. Sex differences in developmental trajectories and in smoking behavior among regular smokers were notable. Future research should examine transitions and turning points from adolescence to adulthood that may affect cessation and escalation differently for males and females.

Potential Contributions of the Life Span Developmental Approach to the Study of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use: The Rutgers Health and Human Development Project, a Working Model

The Rutgers Health and Human Development Project is organized around a life span developmental perspective. This is oriented toward understanding the antecedents and variables relating to adolescent substance use and abuse. The project is interested in major developments of use patterns, particularly in regard to acquisition, early maintenance, and dependence (if it occurs). These patterns are best understood in a prospective-developmental model and not in a cross-sectional model. To do this the domain of the problem including the adolescents family, must be studied. The design factors are critical in such a study if causal analyses are to be developed and must be done under naturalistic, real world conditions. The Rutgers study, therefore, assesses the emergence and unfolding of adolescent substance use behaviors in interaction with the individuals physical, psychological and social development during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. The project assessed three different aged samples (12, 15, 18) prospectively, over a three year span. Problem areas in the methodology of prospective, longitudinal studies are discussed.

Predictors of smoking cessation from adolescence into young adulthood

Although smoking cigarettes is hazardous to health and cessation has positive health benefits, few smokers are able to successfully quit. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictors of smoking cessation in a nonclinical sample of 134 male and 190 female, young adult, regular (daily) smokers within a social learning and maturing-out framework. Four waves of prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample followed from adolescence into young adulthood were analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the effects of differential associations, definitions, differential reinforcement, and changes in adult role status on smoking cessation in young adulthood. Becoming married to a nonsmoker and decreases in the proportion of friends who smoked were significant predictors of cessation. Current smokers and stoppers did not differ significantly in terms of prior intensity of cigarette use or alcohol abuse/dependence. They also did not differ in terms of psychological characteristics, including depression and prior coping use of cigarettes. Social networks were more important than social roles for predicting cessation in young adulthood. Thus, smoking cessation programs should focus on social learning processes.

Risk for excessive alcohol use and drinking-related problems in college student athletes

There is compelling evidence that college student athletes engage in frequent episodes of heavy drinking and are prone to negative consequences resulting from such use. This study sought to identify risk and protective factors associated with student-athlete drinking and determine if student-athlete risk factors differed from those of non-athletes. Athletes compared to non-athletes reported more exaggerated perceptions of peer heavy drinking and lower sensation seeking and coping and enhancement motives for drinking, suggesting a risk profile distinct from non-athletes. In the overall sample, higher sensation seeking, overestimation of peer heavy drinking, non-use of protective behaviors while drinking, and higher enhancement and coping drinking motives were associated with greater frequency of heavy episodic drinking and more negative drinking consequences. In athletes compared to non-athletes, sensation seeking was more strongly associated with heavy episodic drinking and drinking to cope was more strongly associated with negative alcohol-related consequences. Overall, the results suggest that already proven brief intervention strategies, with minor adaptations related to the roles of sensation seeking and drinking to cope, may be helpful for student athletes.

Effectiveness of Intensive Case Management for Substance-Dependent Women Receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

OBJECTIVE We tested the effectiveness of a long-term coordinated care strategy--intensive case management (ICM)--compared with usual care (UC) among a group of substance-dependent women receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). METHODS Substance-dependent women on TANF (N=302) were recruited from welfare offices. They were assessed and randomly assigned to ICM or UC; follow-up was at 3, 9, and 15 months. UC consisted of a health assessment at the welfare office and a referral to substance abuse treatment and TANF services. ICM clients received ICM services in addition to UC services. RESULTS ICM clients had significantly higher levels of substance abuse treatment initiation, engagement, and retention compared with UC clients. In some cases, ICM treatment attendance rates were double those of UC rates. Additionally, almost twice as many ICM clients were abstinent at the 15 month follow-up compared with UC clients (P<.0025). CONCLUSIONS ICM is a promising intervention for managing the chronic nature of substance dependence among women receiving TANF. Future research should refine long-term care strategies-such as ICM-that address the chronic nature of substance dependence among low-income populations.

Developmental Trajectories of Substance Use in Adolescence: Differences and Predictors

We applied a combination of variable-centred and person-centred approaches to the analysis of data from a longitudinal study of substance use in adolescence (ages 12-18). Regression models were specified to permit a distinction between chronic differences and changes in selected risk factors. Both chronic differences and changes in risk factors were found to predict differences in use at ages 15 and 18. However, the obtained regression models were found to be least applicable to adolescents deviating most from the normative longitudinal pattern, that is, adolescents exhibiting chronically low levels of use, adolescents exhibiting chronically high levels of use, and adolescents exhibiting a sharp increase in use between the ages of 15 and 18. Furthermore, risk factors linked to small or moderate deviations and those linked to more extreme deviations from the normative pattern were only partly the same.

Risk factors of adolescent drug use: An affect-based interpretation

We examined the continuity and stability of relational patterns among putative risk factors and measures of total drug use over the age period of 12 to 18. Using Marlatts (1987) affect-based model of moderation versus dependence, risk factors were classified on the basis of their assumed relationships to (a) positive and negative affect and (b) low versus high constraint. It was hypothesized that two distinct developmental pathways characterize the emergence of drug use in a normal population sample of adolescents: one indicative of low constraint and a predominance of positive affect, the other indicative of low constraint and a predominance of negative affect. Results of principal components analyses generally support the hypothesis. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

Estimation oF Substance Use Involvement: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Findings

The present study is concerned with the development of a substance use index to be used in the examination of substance use and related phenomena among adolescent substance users. The Substance Use Involvement Index (SUI) was constructed to provide a composite score that combines quantitative and qualitative aspects of substance use into a unitary score that reflects a users substance involvement relative to a specific reference group. The SUI was used to examine the relationship between substance use involvement and predictor variables, (i.e., personal distress and self-concept) by first dividing the student population into six substance use involvement groups. The SUI was also used to examine differences in substance use levels as a function of sex, grade-in-school, self-reported grade point average, and race/ethnicity. Finally, the SUI was examined in relation to the qualitative aspects of multiple substance use and other use patterns.

Alcohol problems among a community sample: longitudinal influences of stress, coping, and gender.

This study examined the relationships among stress, coping methods, and alcohol-use associated problems within a longitudinal, community sample of males and females who were followed from adolescence through young adulthood. While fewer females than males were categorized as “dependent users” these females were more debilitated in terms of the number of alcohol-related problems experienced from age 15 through age 25. Measures of both chronic and proximal levels of personal stress and negative coping styles were most helpful in explaining problems with alcohol use. Distal measures of stress and coping, while perhaps serving as mediators or moderators of other important constructs, did not appear to have a direct effect on the outcome measure.