Adolescent emotional disorder symptoms and transdiagnostic vulnerabilities as predictors of young adult substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: mediation by substance-related coping behaviors

Abstract

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic presents unique stressors (e.g. social isolation) that may increase substance use risk among young adults with a history of emotional disturbance. This study examined whether emotional disorder symptoms and transdiagnostic vulnerabilities during adolescence predicted young adult substance use during COVID-19, and whether using substances to cope with the pandemic’s social conditions mediated these associations. Adolescents (N = 2,120) completed baseline surveys assessing transdiagnostic emotional vulnerabilities (anhedonia, distress intolerance, anxiety sensitivity, negative urgency) and symptoms (major depression[MD], generalized anxiety[GAD], panic disorder[PD], social phobia[SP], obsessive-compulsive disorder[OCD]) in adolescence (September–December 2016; M[SD] age = 17.45[0.38]). At follow-up (May–August 2020; M[SD] age = 21.16[0.39]), past 30-day substance use and using substances to cope with social isolation during the pandemic were reported. Adjusted models showed that baseline distress intolerance, anxiety sensitivity, negative urgency, and MD symptoms each significantly predicted higher number of past-month single-substance using days and number of substances used at follow-up (βs = 0.04–0.06). In each case, associations were mediated by tendency to use substances to cope with the pandemic (βindirect range: 0.028–0.061). To mitigate disproportionate escalation of substance use in young adults with a history of certain types of emotional disturbance, interventions promoting healthy coping strategies to deal with the pandemic’s social conditions warrant consideration.