Patterns of adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use over a 6-month period

In the current study, alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among adolescen ts (N=794, 48.6% female) was assessed at two time points, and four patterns of use were identified: (1) abstainers: no lifetime use; (2) new users: no use at baseline but had used by the follow-up period; (3) experimenters: u se prior to the baseline but no use in the period up to the follow-up; and (4) consistent users: self-report of use prior to the baseline and the foll ow-up. Mean levels of psychosocial variables (mastery, self-esteem, and par ental social support) were compared across the four patterns of use for eac h substance. Only analyses including parental social support as the depende nt variable were significant. Adolescents with higher levels of social supp ort were more likely to be classified as abstainers or experimenters of alc ohol than consistent users. More frequent users of cigarettes at baseline w ere likely to be classified as frequent users at the follow-up. The discuss ion focuses on the identification of the situational context of substance u se for alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.