Associations Between Gender-Specific Substance Use Patterns and Mental Health Among Adolescents in the Republic of Korea: A Latent Class Analysis.

Purpose: Although gender differences in adolescent substance use are complex and substance use accompanies mental health problems, most previous studies have focused on gender-specific association between single substance use and mental health. This study aimed to investigate gender-specific substance use patterns and to examine their association with mental health characteristics.

Methods: Nationally representative data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey collected in 2018 were analyzed. To identify substance use patterns among male adolescents (n = 30,463) and female adolescents (n = 29,577), multiple-group latent class analysis was conducted using eight substance use indicators. In addition, we conducted a latent class analysis with covariates to examine the association between substance use patterns and mental health characteristics.

Results: Among both gender samples, the four-class model best fit the data: nonusers (86.4%), frequent smokers (2.9%), risky drinkers (7.1%), and heavy tobacco and alcohol users with lifetime heated tobacco product use (3.6%) for male adolescents, and nonusers (89.8%), frequent smokers (0.5%), risky drinkers (8.0%), and heavy tobacco and alcohol users with a drunkenness episode (1.7%) for female adolescents. Depression, suicidal plans, and suicidal attempts predicted the latent class model for both genders. In addition, stress level predicted the latent class model for female adolescents.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that homogeneous patterns of substance use by gender are differentially associated with mental health problems. Therefore, health professionals should develop interventions tailored to gender-specific substance use patterns, taking into account the mental health characteristics of each pattern.