A longitudinal examination into childhood abuse and substance use to PTSD symptoms and deviant peer association: Impact of developmental timing of abuse

Background

Following child abuse, adolescents often endorse PTSD symptoms and use substances. However, few studies have addressed the longitudinal underlying effects of deviant peer association and revictimization and the developmental impact of PTSD symptoms and substance use.

Objective

To address these limitations, the current study utilized the susceptibility and self-medication hypothesis to examine abuse in childhood ages 0–12 and adolescence ages 12–16 as predictors of substance use in mid-adolescence at age 16 and symptoms of (PTSD) in late adolescence at age 18 mediated by associating with deviant peers and revictimization using a sample of 596 (73.8 % racial minority; 50.7 % male) adolescents from Longitudinal Study of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Methods

This study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct and indirect effects of child abuse, substance use, deviant peer affiliation, and PTSD symptoms across different developmental periods using bootstrapping procedures.

Results

Results indicated that substance use in mid-adolescence mediated the relationship between abuse in adolescence and PTSD symptoms in middle adolescence, while the abuse in childhood was not indirectly related. Furthermore, the indirect effect between abuse in childhood and PTSD symptoms at age 16 was mediated by PTSD at age 12 and deviant peer affiliation at age 14. Substance use in adolescence, PTSD symptoms, and adolescent peer social networks may be a point of intervention to reduce future adverse outcomes.

Conclusion

The findings of this study provided evidence of the long-term consequences of experiencing child abuse and subsequent adverse outcomes, including PTSD symptoms, substance use, and adolescent deviant peer affiliation. This study also highlighted preventive and intervention mechanisms to attenuate these adverse outcomes.