New Dimensions for Adolescent Substance Use Prevention

Abstract

The primary focus of this issue of The Journal of Primary Prevention (JPP)—adolescent substance use—is particularly important to me. As a researcher in adolescent health and the parent of a teenager, I continually monitor the challenges adolescents face in the complex world we live in and examine the most effective ways to prepare them to meet those challenges. Thus, I benefit greatly when research converges to address health and behavioral outcomes that impact me not only professionally (as a researcher) but also personally (as a parent). I trust that JPP readers will feel similarly. Adolescent substance use continues to be a major public health problem in the United States. While tobacco and alcohol use have declined among U.S. teens over the past 20 years, marijuana use has increased. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012), past-month alcohol use decreased by 24 %, binge drinking by 24 %, and past-month cigarette use by 34 % among U.S. high school students from 1991 to 2011. However, during this same time period, marijuana use increased by 60 %, with 23 % of U.S. high school students reporting having smoked marijuana in the past 30 days. It is important to emphasize that adolescent substance use is not only a national public health problem but also an international one, impacting teens in various communities around the world. Two studies in this issue examined the potential impact of religiosity and spirituality on adolescent substance use. Both of these studies are intriguing given growing evidence suggesting that religiosity and spirituality are protective against substance use, especially among urban adolescents. In a sample of predominantly African American youth, aged 13–20 years and living in Philadelphia, Mason et al. tested whether three dimensions of religiosity (social religiosity, perceived religious support, and private religiosity) as well as proximity to religious institutions were protective against various types of substance use. Contributing to the novelty of this study is the fact that the authors investigated the impact of multiple dimensions of religiosity, which in adolescent substance use research has typically been assessed using a single dimension. Logistic regression analysis revealed that two dimensions of religiosity were protective against at least one type of substance use: Social religiosity was protective against marijuana use, and perceived religious support was protective against tobacco use. However, the third dimension of religiosity, private religiosity, was not protective against any type of substance use. As Mason et al. conclude, in addition to providing initial evidence that proximity to religious institutions is protective against alcohol use, their findings point to the importance of examining religiosity as a multidimensional construct when investigating substance use in urban youth populations. S. R. Tortolero (&) University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, USA e-mail: Susan.Tortolero@uth.tmc.edu