The Co-Occurrences Between Academic Performance and Substance Use Under a Multilevel and Longitudinal Approach

• In Event: Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Family, Social, and Contextual Effects on Educational Pathways

Abstract

Recent research shows that schools can also affect behaviors related to educational outcomes such as substance use. Conceptualizing academic performance and substance use as longitudinal co-occurrences, this study explores school contextual effects on this co-occurrence.

School effects were estimated, in a national representative sample of adolescents (ADD Health), using multilevel and longitudinal analysis (multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, multilevel conditional cross-lagged modeling).

Findings suggest that a school general risk factor is related to substance use while school academic pressure and school social and academic problems were related to academic performance. In addition, the relationship between academic performance and substance use was different depending on whether it was modeled at the student level (negative relationship) or school level (positive relationship).

Author

• Fernando H. Andrade, University of Michigan