ArticleThe Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine2020
What Does Adolescent Substance Use Look Like During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Examining Changes in Frequency, Social Contexts, and Pandemic-Related Predictors.
Article in The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 239 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
239 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Alcohol Consumption During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Review.Human psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Substance Use Among Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Systematic Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2022Pooled it
- Review: Mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and youth - a systematic review.Child and adolescent mental health · 2022Pooled it
- Changes in alcohol use during COVID-19 and associations with contextual and individual difference variables: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2022Pooled it
- Alcohol and other substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Pooled it
- Preliminary Efficacy of Positive Change(+Change): A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of an Integrated Alcohol and Sexual Assault Prevention Program Tailored by Gender and Sexual Orientation.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2025Trial
- Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy Risk, Mental Health, Self-Understanding, and Relational Connections Among Urban Native American Young Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Trial
- Examining engagement with and acceptability and usability of REAL Parenting: A brief online parent-based intervention to reduce alcohol use and consequences among high school students.Addictive behaviors · 2023Trial
- The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Use.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2022Trial
- Lifestyle risk behaviours among adolescents: a two-year longitudinal study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMJ open · 2022Trial
- The impact of COVID-19 on people who inject drugs in New York City: increased risk and decreased access to services.Harm reduction journal · 2021Trial
- Adolescents' substance use trajectories across the COVID-19 pandemic: implications of pandemic disruptions and other risk and protective factors.Child development · 2026Article
- Remote alcohol administration: A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to potential participation.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Investigating Substance Use as a Coping Strategy Among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients: A Comparative Analysis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Trauma led us to substance use: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of refugee youth experiences with substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Swedish adolescents' mental well-being: the role of impulsivity, sleep, spirituality, and self-esteem.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Pandemic Associated Changes in Personal Substance Use and Perceptions of Changes to Peer Substance Use among College Students: A Retrospective Assessment.Journal of drug education · 2025Article
- Families' Experience of Family Therapy by Videoconference During the First Lockdown: A Qualitative Study.Family process · 2025Article
- Using decision trees to examine risk profiles for cannabis use among large samples of underage youth before and after cannabis legalization in Canada.Addictive behaviors reports · 2025Article
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal influences of stress mindset on adolescent depressive symptoms and cannabis use.Anxiety, stress, and coping · 2025Article
179 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe overarching goal of this study was to provide key information on how adolescents' substance use has changed since the corona virus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic, in addition to key contexts and correlates of substance use during social distancing.
methodsCanadian adolescents (n = 1,054, M
resultsFor most substances, the percentage of users decreased; however, the frequency of both alcohol and cannabis use increased. Although the greatest percentage of adolescents was engaging in solitary substance use (49.3%), many were still using substances with peers via technology (31.6%) and, shockingly, even face to face (23.6%). Concerns for how social distancing would affect peer reputation was a significant predictor of face-to-face substance use with friends among adolescents with low self-reported popularity, and a significant predictor of solitary substance use among average and high popularity teens. Finally, adjustment predictors, including depression and fear of the infectivity of COVID-19, predicted using solitary substance use during the pandemic.
conclusionsOur results provide preliminary evidence that adolescent substance use, including that which occurs face to face with peers, thereby putting adolescents at risk for contracting COVID-19, may be of particular concern during the pandemic. Further, solitary adolescent substance use during the pandemic, which is associated with poorer mental health and coping, may also be a notable concern worthy of further investigation.
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