ECPN poster contestant: Peer Victimization and Substance Use: Understanding the Impact of Depressive Symptomatology and Gender on Developmental Risk

Introduction: Peer victimization among school-aged youth is not uncommon, with one in five youth experiencing some form of peer bullying at school in the past year. Although there is evidence for the positive relationship between peer victimization and substance use vulnerability, limited work has been conducted examining underlying mechanisms involved within this risk pathway, such as negative affect, or gender differences within the risk process. To date, only one study has examined gender differences on the indirect effect of negative affect on peer victimization and substance use (Luk et al., 2010). However, limitations of the study include the cross-sectional design of the study and the use of a restricted population. Additionally, the researchers did not examine if findings varied based on the substance use outcomes. The current study will add to this body of literature, by utilizing a prospective two-wave study design among a large sample of school-aged youth, to examine the indirect effect of depressive symptomatology on the relationship between school peer victimization assessed at time 1 on past month substance use (i.e., current use and frequency of use) assessed at time 2.

Method: 3,669 youth in 4-12 grade were sampled from 20 schools (21 school districts) in a large midwestern county. Analyses were conducted among youth who completed the study variables of interest (i.e., peer victimization, depression symptoms, and substance use). A majority of the participants were female (56.2%), self-identified as White (68.8%), and were in 7th grade (mean grade=6.9).

Results: Controlling for grade and race, peer victimization was positively related substance use outcomes, and this relationship was mediated through depression. The indirect effect was moderated by gender, such that depression as a consequence of peer victimization had a stronger effect on being a past month substance user for females compared to males. However, among substance users, the indirect effect of depression on substance use frequency due to peer victimization was similar for both genders.

Conclusions: Results suggest that victims of peer bullying engage in substance use behaviors at least in part due to increases in depressive symptoms. Given its impact on depression, victims of peer bullying may therefore benefit from coping skills training that targets emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills in order to combat increased risk for substance use behaviors as a maladaptive coping response to their psychological distress. Such programs may be particularly impactful at reducing engagement in substance use for female adolescents.