Some stress models suggest that while stressful life events remain variable among youth, experiencing an increasing number of said events over time may rapidly escalate substance use. As youth transition to adulthood, they develop effective coping mechanisms, thus the impact of stressful events weakens and substance use de-escalates. Building on this model, a recent study investigated the impact of cumulative stress on trajectories of substance use in adolescence and emerging adulthood. This study analyzed data collected from the Family Health Study, a study that asked parents and adolescents to complete annual self-administered questionnaires about stressful life events, peer behaviors, and substance use over a period of eight years (n=840 adolescent participants). Results from a latent trajectory analysis indicated that cumulative stress associated with an increase in binge alcohol use during early to late adolescence and with an increase in past-year marijuana use during mid-to-late adolescence. Peer substance use consistently attenuated the effect of cumulative stress.
Take Away: Findings from this study suggest cumulative stress associates with an escalation of substance use during early adolescence. However, additional results suggested that this association did not depend on age; therefore, their findings did not support the theory that the effect of stress on substance use de-escalates as youth enter adulthood. As a result, college campuses may consider including stress management techniques in their substance use prevention efforts.