Moderating Effects of Perceived Emotional Benefits on Emotional Distress and Stage of Inhalant Initiation

Comorbidity of substance use and emotional factors is well established.   Substance use, including inhalant abuse often co-occurs with various negative emotional states and emotional distress factors predict different adolescent substance use trajectories.  This study assessed the role of depression, self-esteem, and anger in predicting stage of initiation of inhalant use among American Indian (AI) and white students attending schools on or near AI reservations.  In addition, we evaluated the potential moderating effects of perceived emotional benefits of inhalant use.  SEM models with inhalant stage of initation regressed onto latent factors for depression, self-esteem, and anger were tested, with multile group models created for either low or high perceived emotional benefits.  Initial results indicated that early initiation of inhalants was associated with lower levels of self-esteem among AI but not white students.  Other emtional factors were not associated with stage of inhalant initiation.  With comparisons across ethnicity, within stage of initation, among those who initiated inhalants at age 13 or older, white students reported higher levels of anger.  For SEM multiple group models assessing moderating effects of perceived emotional benefits, one moderating effect was identified.  Among AI students who perceived higher emotional benefits for inhalant use, they were less likely to have initiated inhlants early if they also reported higher levels of self-esteem.  These results indicate that there was no strong relationship between stage of inhalant initiation and emotional factors with the exception of level of self-esteem among AI students.  Furthermore, peceived emotional benefits provided only limited moderating effects on the relationship between emotional factors and stage of inhalant initation.  While other studies have shown that emotional distress factors discriminate between users and non-users of inhalants, our results show that such factors do not strongly predict early vs. later initiation.