Poster #46 - Family Support as Moderator for Anxiety and Subsequent Substance Use

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Previous studies have examined the association between anxiety and substance use (Ohannessian, 2014; Skrove, Rumunstad, & Indredavik, 2013; Wu et al., 2009). However, the directionality of the association is unclear. Research suggests that family closeness may be an important third variable that influences the association between anxiety and substance use among adolescents (Malaquias, Crespo, & Francisco, 2015; Skrove, Rumunstad, & Indredavik, 2013; Schindler, Thomasius, Sack, Cermeinhardt, Küstner, & Eckert, 2005). The present study investigates the extent to which family support reduces the association between anxiety and subsequent substance use six months later among racially diverse high school adolescents.

Methods: Participants include adolescents in the 9th-12th grades (n = 375; cis-gender female = 65%, male = 35%, non-binary = 0%; Asian (39%), Black (20%), and Latino/Hispanic (34%) from five public high schools located in a large, urban city in the northeastern United States. On average, participants were 14.27 years old (range 13 to 17; SD = 0.61). Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured using the 2016 Census estimates of the percent of residents below the national poverty line at a neighborhood tract level (U.S. Census Bureau (2015); x = 21.22%, SD = 13.37). Participants reported anxiety using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970) and family support using the items from the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988) scale at Time 1 (Fall 2015) and frequency of substance use (i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, or a more serious drug) using the the Health Behavior Questionnaire (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000) at Time 2 (6 months later). Mean scores were used for all self-report scales.

Results: controlling for race, gender, and SES,There was a significant interaction between Time 1 family support and anxiety predicting Time 2 substance use frequency 6 months later (β = -0.19, SD = 0.09, p < 0.05, R2 = 0.38). Simple slope analysis suggests that there was a significant positive association between Time 1 anxiety and Time 2 substance use for adolescents who reported lower family support (β = 0.20, SD = 0.10, p < 0.05), but not for adolescents who reported average (β = 0.08, SD = 0.06, p = 0.22) or higher levels of (β = -0.04, SD = 0.08, p = 0.57) family support (Figure 1). Johnson-Neyman plots suggest that anxiety predicted subsequent substance use for adolescents who reported an average score of 1.47 (between “not true at all” and “somewhat true”) or lower on family support (Figure 2). Adolescents who reported higher levels of anxiety coupled with less family support engaged in more frequent substance use 6 months later compared to adolescents with average to high family support, regardless of race, gender, and SES. These findings suggest the importance of family support in buffering associations between anxiety and subsequent substance use among adolescents of color.

Authors

• Natalie Dalal Hussein, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Kyle Lorenzo, Fordham University

• Tiffany Yip, Fordham University