Alcohol and Cigarette Use Among Warsaw Adolescents: Factors Associated With Risk and Resilience

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground: Youth in Poland are at notable risk for substance use. Guided by resiliency theory, we examine if developmental risk and promotive factors are associated with substance abuse risk. Objectives: We examined the association between adolescent cigarette and alcohol use and related risk and promotive factors including maternal support, neighbors' informal social control, friends' acceptance of substance use, and alcohol and cigarette use by nonparental adults. Method: Data were collected from a random sample of 13- to 14-year-old students attending Warsaw middle schools (N = 3029). We used hierarchical regression models and examined compensatory and protective models of resilience, controlling for sociodemograhic factors. Results: Our results indicated that friends' acceptance of substance use and perceived drug use among nonparental adults was associated with increased risk cigarette and alcohol use among youth. We found that maternal support moderated the relationship between friends' acceptance of substance use and cigarette use (protective model of resilience). Thus, mother support buffered the negative effects of friends' acceptance of substance use on youths' cigarette use. Neighbor's informal social control and maternal support were associated with reduced risk of alcohol use (compensatory model of resilience). Conclusion: Collectively, results of the study support compensatory and protective models of resilience in a large representative sample of Warsaw adolescents.