Community influences on African American adolescent ATOD use and mental health: A test of the Social Development Model

Health compromising behaviors, such as smoking and mental health problems tend to co-occur, and contribute to the leading causes of preventable death, disease, and disability among adolescents. Substance use and depression have been found to be predicted by similar contextual factors among African American adolescents. This study utilizes the Social Development Model (SDM) to examine the influence of perceived community characteristics on lifetime and past 30 day alcohol, tobacco, and/or marijuana use and mental health among 611 urban African American adolescents. The SDM posits that opportunities for pro-social engagement lead to bonding/attachment. Attachment to positive social contexts with clear standards and healthy beliefs would then translate into healthy behavior. A structural equation model was utilized to assess a model of the indirect effects of gender and opportunities for positive adult interactions on lifetime ATOD, recent ATOD, and mental health through community attachment and perceptions of adult opinions regarding adolescent ATOD use. The results indicated that there is a significant indirect effect of opportunities for pro-social engagement on mental health through community attachment (b=-.187, p=.002). Only perceptions of adult opinions regarding adolescent substance use was significantly associated with lifetime ATOD use (b=.230, p=.003) while females were more likely to report past 30 day ATOD use (b=243, p=.001). These findings support the necessity for positive interactions with community adults during adolescence. Additionally, perceived beliefs regarding the acceptance of adolescent drug use was associated with lifetime ATOD use and indicates community norms should be targeted to decrease possible experimentation and initiation in adolescence.