Childhood and Adolescent Predictors of Substance Abuse in Emerging Adulthood

Oregon Research Institute, Springfield OR

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The over-arching goals of the proposed research are (1) to examine the perceptions, beliefs, and use of novel tobacco products, including snus, dissolvables, e-cigarettes, little cigars, and hookah, among emerging adults (aged 20 - 26), and (2) to further the understanding of who is using or willing to use these products, and why they are using them. To accomplish these goals, we will add two assessments, 10 months apart, along with follow-up interviews with a portion of the participants, to our ongoing cohort-sequential longitudinal study (DA10767; Oregon Youth Substance Use Project; OYSUP). OYSUP, which is based on an epidemiological-based sampling strategy, has followed a representative sample of youth from one school district in Western Oregon annually across the previous 15 years, beginning when they were in the 1st through the 5th grade. To accomplish these goals we propose to conduct two questionnaire assessments with approximately 900 emerging adults, which will include measures of the awareness of each of these novel products, favorability of images associated with use, perceptions of risk (including health risks, relative risk compared to cigarette use, optimism bias, and risk of addiction), perceptions of benefits (i.e., motivations to use), assessment of personality, intentions and willingness to use each product, and quantity and frequency of use. This assessment will also include questions assessing current tobacco dependence and use of traditional tobacco products. We will conduct follow-up interviews with a portion of the participants (n = 300 at T1; n = 225 at T2). These will (a) include a time-line follow-back interview assessing order of use of products (including both novel and traditional) and circumstances of use, and (b) assess how participants learned about the product (communication channels, including social networking) and their exposure and receptivity to advertising messages, including point-of-sale messages. These assessments will allow for (a) the surveillance of these new products, including an assessment of awareness, use and willingness to use, how they learned about the product, and their beliefs and perceptions of risks and benefits; (b) the concurrent and prospective prediction of use from perceptions and beliefs; (c) the association of use of novel products with use of more traditional tobacco products (e.g., cigarettes and traditional ST, e.g., chew or snuff); and (d) the examination of unique and common predictors of tobacco use and use of these novel products.