Abstract
Substance use is a risk behavior that has been associated with adverse mental health outcomes in adolescence. The aim of this study was to determine the relation between behavioral problems, emotional problems, and substance use as well as the mediating role of contextual problems and sensation seeking in this relation. A cross-sectional study of 2277 adolescents from Northern Chile was conducted. The System for the Evaluation of Children and Adolescents (SENA) was used to assess substance use, contextual problems, sensation seeking, and emotional and behavioral problems. Through a mediational model, it was observed that substance use has a positive indirect effect on emotional and behavioral problems when both contextual problems and sensation seeking act as mediating variables. An indirect effect of substance use on contextual problems with sensation seeking as a mediator was also observed. The results suggests that context and sensation seeking are a relevant source of information in understanding adolescents and their propensity to use drugs. Interventions based on addressing contextual problems (problems with school, peers, and family) and enhancing personal resources should be implemented in order to reduce substance use in adolescents as well as the consequences it can generate in the short, medium, and long term.
Highlights
The purpose of this study is to determine the mediating role that sensation seeking and contextual variables have in the relationship between substance use and indicators of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents from northern Chile
The results suggest the existence of direct effects of substance use on sensation seeking, which seems to hint at a bidirectional relationship between both variables, since in addition to the relationship observed in previous studies, in which sensation seeking is a risk factor that predisposes adolescents to substance use [26–29], in this study, the results seem to indicate that those who use drugs would tend to see this need to experiment new experiences increase, seeking stronger and lasting effects in stronger drugs, which seems plausible taking into account the results of the SENDA study [42], where an increase in the consumption of hallucinogens, ecstasy, and stimulants and tranquilizers without medical prescription was observed in the country’s adolescents
The results indicate the existence of a partial mediation of sensation seeking and contextual problems in the relationship between substance use and emotional problems, which causes the direction of the relationship between the variables to change from being negative in the direct effects to being positive when these variables are taken into account as mediators
Summary
Adolescence is a phase characterized by major biological, emotional, cognitive, and social changes [1]. This transition period brings with it risk factors that begin to manifest themselves, which can lead to the appearance of problems that can have severe consequences for the rest of life [2], such as psychological disorders and problematic patterns of substance use [3]. Drug use in adolescence has become a public health problem, since the consequences on physical, psychological, and social well-being are highly disabling in the short and long term [4]. Due to the neuromaturation-related processes of adolescence, an early onset of alcohol and drugs consumption makes young people more susceptible to severe presentations of neurodegenerative processes and neuropsychological deficits, even when consumption patterns do not meet the criteria to be categorized as problematic [6,7].
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