Protective and Risk Factors for Adolescent Substance Use in Spain: Self-Esteem and Other Indicators of Personal Well-Being and Ill-Being

Although self-esteem has traditionally been considered as an important correlate of psychosocial adjustment, some empirical studies have found a positive relationship between some domains of self-esteem and drug use among adolescents. The present study analyzes self-esteem and other adjustment perso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020, Vol.12 (15), p.5962
Main Authors: Fuentes, María C., Garcia, Oscar F., Garcia, Fernando
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Adolescents
Cannabis
Cigarettes
Correlation analysis
Covariance
Drug abuse
Drug use
Drugs
Indicators
Marijuana
Mental disorders
Parents & parenting
Psychological factors
Questionnaires
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Self esteem
Self image
Smoking
Social factors
Statistical analysis
Studies
Substance use
Sustainability
Teenagers
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Summary:Although self-esteem has traditionally been considered as an important correlate of psychosocial adjustment, some empirical studies have found a positive relationship between some domains of self-esteem and drug use among adolescents. The present study analyzes self-esteem and other adjustment personal indicators as protective or risk factors for substance use. Participants were 644 Spanish adolescents aged 12–17 years. Substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs), multidimensional self-esteem (academic, social, emotional, family, and physical), and other indicators of adolescents’ well-being and ill-being (psychological problems, behavior problems, and parenting) were measured. We observed, on the one hand, that substance use had a significant negative relationship with academic, family, and physical self-esteem. On the other hand, we also observed a significant positive relationship between drug use and social self-esteem. However, this significant relationship disappeared after statistically controlling for sex and age, using both partial correlation analyses and covariance analysis. Interestingly, beyond the importance of each factor related to drugs, prevention science should first of all be able to identify whether the main psychological variables (e.g., social or physical self-esteem) are risk or protective factors for drug use.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12155962