Abstract
The present study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal developmental
characteristics of the association between mental health and substance use. N=1182
adolescents aged between 11 and 20 years were recruited from schools in Australia.
Participants completed the Youth Self Report (YSR) (Achenbach, 1991a) and reported
on their use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, their social ability, their motivation for
using substances, their ability to regulate emotion, and the influences of their parents
and peers on their substance use. N=561 of time one participants were retained for
testing one year later to assess the potential to predict substance use at time two from
mental health at time one.
Results indicated a clear and consistent cross-sectional association between
externalising scores on the YSR and use of the three substances, regardless of gender.
The relation between internalising scores and substance use was non-significant. When
the relation between externalising scores and substance use was assessed for mediation,
only the influence of parents and peers was found to be significant. A cross-sectional
structural model developed to account for this association was demonstrated to be
invariant across the three substances of interest, and across gender, but not age category.
There was no evidence that social skills, emotion regulation, or substance use motives,
had roles in mediating the relationship between mental health and substance use.
A model was developed to assess the potential to predict substance use at time
two from externalising scores at time one. Results showed that externalising scores
predicted increases in alcohol use via parent and peer attitudes. Thus, externalising
disposition, in the context of a facilitative social environment, was predictive of an
increase in alcohol use over time. Structural models developed to account for the
predictive relation between externalising scores and use of cigarettes and marijuana
proved unstable and could not be tested. Substance use at time one was not predictive of
externalising scores at time two.
The results of the present research are discussed in relation to their potential to
inform the developmental substance use literature, and efforts directed against the
development of substance use problems. Limitations of the present research are noted.