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Illicit Drug Use From Adolescence to Young Adulthood Among Child Welfare-Involved Youths
Casanueva, C., Stambaugh, L., Urato, M., Fraser, JG., & Williams, J. (2014). Illicit Drug Use From Adolescence to Young Adulthood Among Child Welfare-Involved Youths. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 23(1), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/1067828X.2012.735514
This study examined illicit substance use among 1,004 adolescents, ages 11-21, involved with the Child Welfare System (CWS) and followed from 1999 to 2007. By the time they reached transition age, more than 60% of the sample had used an illicit substance in their lifetime. Predictors of regular use during adolescence were having a prior CWS report, externalizing behavior problems, delinquency, and any sexual experience. Exposure to physical abuse was predictive of escalating substance use trajectories. Protective factors included having a child at any point during the study, parental monitoring, and being placed in kinship care