Conceptualizing protective family context and its effect on substance use: Comparisons across diverse ethnic-racial youth. Issue 4 (October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Constante, Kevin; Huntley, Edward D.; Si, Yajuan; Schillinger, Emma; Wagner, Christine; Keating, Daniel P.
• Is Part Of: Substance abuse. Volume 42:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 796
• Page End: 805
• Publication Date: 2021-10
• Subjects: Adolescence -- substance use -- family dynamics -- ethnicity; Substance abuse -- Periodicals; Medical education -- Periodicals; Education, Medical -- periodicals; Substance Abuse -- periodicals; 362.29
• DOI: 10.1080/08897077.2020.1856289
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0889-7077

Abstract

Background: Although family behaviors are known to be important for buffering youth against substance use, research in this area often evaluates a particular type of family interaction and how it shapes adolescents' behaviors, when it is likely that youth experience the co-occurrence of multiple types of family behaviors that may be protective. Methods: The current study ( N = 1716, 10th and 12th graders, 55% female) examined associations between protective family context, a latent variable comprised of five different measures of family behaviors, and past 12 months substance use: alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and e-cigarettes. Results: A multi-group measurement invariance assessment supported protective family context as a coherent latent construct with partial (metric) measurement invariance among Black, Latinx, and White youth. A multi-group path model indicated that protective family context was significantly associated with less substance use for all youth, but of varying magnitudes across ethnic-racial groups. Conclusion: These results emphasize the importance of evaluating psychometric properties of family-relevant latent variables on the basis of group membership in order to draw appropriate inferences on how such family variables relate to substance use among diverse samples.