Drug use talk and social learning
Two recent studies utilize social learning theory to investigate drug use. Otten & Ha (2022) published “Drug Use Talk in Adolescent Friendship Interactions: Long-term effects of social learning on lifetime diagnosed substance use disorders” in Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. Here’s their abstract:
Adolescence is a critical period of substance use and substance use disorders (SUD). Social exchanges within the context of adolescent friendships are key to understanding peer influences on the development of SUD. In this study we tested whether dyadic conversations between friends at age 17 are predictive of lifetime SUD diagnosis assessed at age 27. In controlled lab sessions, we observed conversations of 497 17-year-old adolescents and a friend. We coded the general way adolescents talk about deviant actions (i.e., deviancy training), but also specific positive talk about drugs (i.e., drug use talk). At age 27, a diagnostic interview was completed to assess lifetime SUD. Independent sample t-tests (in a selection of substance naïve participants to rule out that potential links would be driven by previous substance use) and structural equation modeling (integrated models, controlling for relevant covariates) were used to test whether deviancy training and/or drug use talk were predictive of lifetime SUD-diagnosis 10 years later. No significant links were found between deviancy training and SUD. Independent sample t-tests and integrated models showed significant associations between drug use talk about alcohol and alcohol use disorder and between drug use talk about cannabis use and cannabis use disorder. The link between talking about hard drugs and hard drug use disorder was marginally significant. Findings illustrate the risk of adolescent social learning in drug use talk with friends based on only 10 minutes of interaction, on the prediction of lifetime SUD assessed 10 years later and informs early interventions to curtail development of SUD.
Like this study, the second one utilized a college age sample, in this case to develop an instrument. Waddell, King, Okey, Meier, Metrik & Corbin (2022) published “The Anticipated Effects of Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use: Initial development and preliminary validation” in Psychological Assessment. Here’s their abstract:
Social learning theories suggest that outcome expectancies are strong determinants of behavior, and studies find that alcohol and cannabis expectancies are associated with negative substance use outcomes. However, there are no measures to date that assess expectancies for simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use (SAM), often referred to as SAM, despite strong links with negative consequences and rising time trends. The present study sought to provide initial validation of test scores for the Anticipated Effects of Simultaneous Alcohol and Cannabis Use Scale (AE-SAM), using a sample of past month college student simultaneous users (N = 434). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis conducted in random half samples suggested five expectancy factors, representing high arousal positive, high arousal negative (alcohol driven), high arousal negative (cannabis driven), low arousal positive, and low arousal negative expectancies. The factor structure was invariant across sex, race/ethnicity, and simultaneous use frequency, and demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity with other alcohol/cannabis expectancy measures. AE-SAM high arousal positive expectancies were associated with simultaneous use frequency and heavier drinking/cannabis use, AE-SAM high arousal negative (cannabis driven) expectancies were associated with less frequent simultaneous use and more negative alcohol consequences, and AE-SAM low arousal negative expectancies were associated with less cannabis use. Effects of AE-SAM high arousal positive and high arousal negative (cannabis driven) expectancies remained, above and beyond other expectancy measures, suggesting that AE-SAM expectancies provide additional information beyond single substance expectancies. The results demonstrate the feasibility and utility of assessing simultaneous use expectancies, and lay groundwork for future research on simultaneous use expectancies in relation to alcohol and cannabis use outcomes.
Taken together, these studies suggest that talking with peers influences alcohol and cannabis use. With legalization of cannabis, we can expect more teens to use both alcohol and cannabis. As a result, the instrument Waddell et al. are developing may be very helpful to practitioners who work with teens and young adults.