CCF Speaker Series Elisa Trucco, Ph.D. 12-15-2014

Adolescent Substance Use: An Ecological Analysis of Risk and Protection Elisa Trucco, Ph.D. Substance use represents a major public health concern facing youth in the United States. Although rates and financial costs associated with youth alcohol and drug use are staggering, prevention programs have yielded limited effects. Accordingly, identification of precursors to alcohol and drug use in adolescence is likely to enhance effective preventive interventions. To this end, researchers highlight the importance of ecological models to identify risk and protective factors across multiple social contexts. Ecological models posit that adolescents are socialized via distal (e.g., neighborhoods) and proximal (e.g., peers) social systems. Moreover, individual characteristics (e.g., genes) likely impact the degree of susceptibility to these social contexts. Although ecological models help organize a vast array of factors contributing to maladaptive outcomes, few studies empirically test their core features. Adequately testing ecological models requires an interdisciplinary approach as well as advanced quantitative methods to preserve the natural complexity of etiological processes involved in substance use disorders. This presentation focuses on two studies that offer an ecological analysis of risk and protective factors on problem behavior in adolescence. Study 1 identifies key mechanisms through which disadvantaged neighborhoods impact adolescent alcohol use. Study 2 challenges traditional categorizations of genetic variants as purely risk factors increasing vulnerability to adverse social contexts. Collectively, this program of research supports the utility of ecological models to understand ways in which individual characteristics and social environments work synergistically to inform etiological processes of substance use disorders. Clinical implications gleaned from this work will be discussed as well as future directions.

Elisa Trucco Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Florida International University

12/15/2014 8:30:00 PM