The Effects of Adolescent Depression and Conduct Comorbidity on Substance Use During COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in public health interventions such as the quarantine of families at home, social distancing, and mask wearing. Lack of adherence to said interventions can put others’ health at risk and prolong the pandemic. One reason for non-adherence to social distancing among adolescents involves substance use with friends (Dumas et al., 2020). Conduct disorder (CD) and depression are often comorbid and have been linked to substance use and dependence (Yamada et al., 2015). Previously, we have found increased rates of CD and depression in youth during COVID-19 (Craig et al., 2020). Adolescents with comorbid conditions display greater impairment, poorer adjustment, adverse outcomes, and persisting psychiatric problems across the lifespan compared to those with either disorder alone (Basten et al., 2016). There is some evidence that girls are engaging in substance use at a higher rate than boys (Dumas et al., 2020); therefore, it may be important to understand potential gender differences in predictors of substance use.
Objectives: 1) Explore whether comorbid CD and depression is associated with rates of adolescent alcohol and cannabis use. 2) Explore potential gender differences in the model.
Methods: Participants included (N = 651) Canadian adolescents aged 12-18 (Mage = 15.72, SD = 1.34, 59.1% female). Participants were recruited between July 17 and July 31. This cross-sectional study used measures of youth mental health (OCHS; Boyle et al., 2019), demographics (i.e., gender, age), and drug use history (DHQ; Sobell et al., 1995).
Results: Using SPSS 27.0 (IBM Corp., 2020), and controlling for youth age and gender, CD and depression independently predicted alcohol use (β = .20, p < .001 and β = .12, p < .01, respectively); however, the interaction was not significant (β = .01, p = .88). Likewise, both CD and depression were related to cannabis use (β = .24, p < .001 and β = .16, p < .001, respectively). The interaction between CD and depression was significant (β = .14, p < .01, Figure 1) such that youth with high levels of CD were more likely to use cannabis only if they also had high levels of depression. Gender further moderated the effect of depression on cannabis use such that males with higher levels of depression were at the highest risk of using cannabis (Figure 2). No other gender interactions were significant.
Conclusions: Higher levels of comorbid CD and depression were found to be associated with higher levels of alcohol use. Comorbid CD and depression were related to higher rates of cannabis use. This is concerning given our previous work showing high rates of both CD and depression during the pandemic (Craig et al, 2020). Alarmingly, adolescents engaging in substance use may not be adhering to social distancing (Dumas et al., 2020). Our findings support the need for mental health interventions to address both depression and CD to ameliorate the risk on substance use and potential public health outcomes.

Authors

• Alexey Urusov, York University
  Presenting Author

• Bianca C. Bondi, York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie G. Craig, York University
  Non-Presenting Author