Psychopathology as an Antecedent to, and as a “Consequence” of, Substance Use, in Adolescence

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Abstract
In this longitudinal study of 232 student-subjects in two public high schools, it was found, by a cross-lagged correlation method, that earlier psychopathology predicted to a statistically significant degree to substance use seventeen months later, and that earlier substance use also predicted to a statistically significant degree to later psychopathology. Thus it appears likely that there is an additive or cumulative interaction effect in which having psychiatric symptoms (psychopathology) contributes to the tendency to use drugs, and using drugs adds to the tendency to have psychiatric symptoms. Among the nine types of psychic symptoms measured, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, hostility, paranoid ideation and depression were found to be somewhat more predictive of later increase in substance use than the other types of psychic symptoms; and phobic anxiety was not predictive at all.