Emotional Reactivity to Daily Stress and Substance Use throughout Adolescence

• In Event: The impact of stress and coping on development: Measurement and mechanisms

Abstract

Substance use increases across adolescence, and polysubstance use during adolescence increases risk for substance use disorders in adulthood (e.g., Hopfer et al., 2014; Johnston et al., 2017; Kokkevi et al., 2014). Deficits in emotion regulation may increase adolescents’ risk for substance use, especially in females (Chaplin et al., 2018; Wills et al., 2017). In line with the self-medication hypothesis, adolescents often use substances when they experience negative emotions (e.g., Gould et al., 2012). However, it remains unclear whether youth who show greater emotional responses to daily stressors are at greater risk for substance use. Therefore, the present study examined whether adolescents’ emotion reactivity to daily arguments was associated with substance use and whether these associations vary by adolescent sex.
A sample of predominately Asian, Latino, and European American high school students was recruited during the 10th and 11th grades (N = 330; Mage = 16.56 years, SD = 0.94 years; 56.73% female) and followed for two additional time-points, each 2 years apart. At each wave, participants reported whether they had used eight different substances, such that lifetime substance use could be calculated for each wave. Participants also completed 14 daily diaries, in which they reported whether they experienced arguments with close others (i.e., family, friends, teacher, other people; range 0-4 per day). Each night, they reported the degree to which they felt anxious mood and positive mood on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much so).
Multilevel models were used with days nested within years within an adolescent. Models predicted daily mood from the number of daily arguments to test the degree to which adolescents’ emotions vary by daily stressors. Lifetime substance use was included in models as a predictor, and the cross-level Substance Use X Arguments interaction was included to test whether adolescents’ emotion reactivity to daily stressors varied with lifetime substance use. Finally, we included a three-level Substance Use X Arguments X Gender interaction to examine moderation of this association by gender. We predicted that youth who used more substances would show greater emotional reactivity, particularly in female adolescents. Models controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, parents’ education, and the previous day’s mood.
Youth with more dampened positive mood reactivity to arguments reported higher lifetime substance use (Table 1, Figure 1a). In turn, the link between anxious mood reactivity and substance use varied by gender. Female adolescents with greater anxious mood reactivity to arguments had higher lifetime substance use, and there was no association in males (Table 1, Figure 1b). These results suggest that dampened positive mood reactivity and greater negative mood reactivity are associated with use of more substances. Further, results align with prior findings that emotion regulation is more related to substance use in female than in male adolescents. Daily stressors may prompt more emotionally reactive adolescents to feel more distressed and turn to substances to cope with their emotions, such that greater daily stress and emotion reactivity may be risk factors for substance use, particularly among female adolescents.

Authors

• Danny Rahal, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Andrew J Fuligni, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author