Citation

Newcomb MD, Scheier LM, Bentler PM. Exp. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 1993; 1(1-4): 215-241.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/1064-1297.1.1-4.215

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Mental health problems are often observed among drug abusers, although directional effects between drug use and psychopathology remain unclear. Latent-variable models were constructed with prospective data from a community sample of 487 participants who were assessed 4 times over 12 years, beginning when they were young adolescents. Drug use in adolescence and young adulthood included frequency of using alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, cocaine, and hard drugs and reflected Polydrug Use constructs at both times. A strong stability effect was found for Polydrug Use, and the disturbance term captured the change in polydrug use over this time. Teenage Polydrug Use had few effects on adult mental health, whereas increased Polydrug Use exacerbated later Psychoticism, Suicide Ideation, and other indicators of mental distress. Specific drug use in adolescence and changes in these into young adulthood predicted later psychopathology.

Language: en