Among 2,539 teens, living in disorganized neighborhoods with visible drug problems predicted substance use including marijuana, but having strong resistance self-efficacy and avoiding substance-using peers consistently buffered these neighborhood effects.
Parents and educators interested in protecting teens from substance use in challenging environments.
Personal resistance skills and peer choices buffered neighborhood risk factors for substance use
What the researchers found
The study followed 2,539 high school students and college freshmen originally recruited from Southern California middle schools. Perceptions of neighborhood disorganization, poor social cohesion, and visible alcohol/drug problems were all associated with higher odds of marijuana and other substance use one year later.
However, two individual-level factors consistently buffered the negative neighborhood effects. Resistance self-efficacy (RSE), a teen's confidence in their ability to say no to substances, reduced the impact of living in a disorganized neighborhood. Similarly, having weaker affiliations with substance-using peers also protected against neighborhood risk.
Interestingly, objective census tract-level disadvantage (poverty, unemployment) was not longitudinally associated with substance use, while subjective perceptions of neighborhood problems were. This suggests that how teens perceive their environment matters more than objective economic indicators.
Why it matters
Prevention programs often focus on either community-level or individual-level interventions. This study shows they work together: even in high-risk neighborhoods, teens with strong personal resistance skills and fewer substance-using friends were less likely to use marijuana. This supports multi-level prevention approaches.
The numbers in context
2,539 adolescents. Perceptions of neighborhood disorganization, low social cohesion, and drug problems predicted ATOD use. Resistance self-efficacy and peer factors consistently buffered neighborhood effects. Census tract disadvantage was NOT predictive longitudinally.
How the study worked
Longitudinal analysis of 2,539 Southern California adolescents. Multivariate logistic regressions with interaction terms tested whether parental monitoring, resistance self-efficacy, and peer substance use modified the relationship between neighborhood measures and substance use one year later.
What this study cannot tell us
Self-reported substance use and neighborhood perceptions. Southern California sample may not generalize nationally. The "buffering" effects were measured as statistical interactions, which can be unstable in observational data. The study combined alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes, and marijuana into the analysis, making it difficult to isolate marijuana-specific effects.
How to read the evidence
Moderate evidence from a longitudinal study with a large sample and appropriate statistical methods.
When this study was published
Published in 2017. Based on Southern California adolescents.
The bigger picture
The finding that perceived neighborhood problems mattered more than objective economic data challenges purely structural explanations of adolescent substance use. It suggests that how young people experience and interpret their environment shapes their substance use decisions, and that individual resilience factors can meaningfully counteract environmental risk.
Questions still open
- Can resistance self-efficacy be effectively taught in school-based programs? Does the buffering effect of personal resilience persist into adulthood? Would improving perceived neighborhood conditions (policing, social programs) reduce adolescent substance use independently of individual-level interventions?
Common questions
Does living in a bad neighborhood make teens more likely to use marijuana?
Can anything protect teens in high-risk neighborhoods?
Read the original research
Individual, peer, and family factor modification of neighborhood-level effects on adolescent alcohol, cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use.
Drug and alcohol dependence, 180, 76-85
Citation
Shih, Regina A; Parast, Layla; Pedersen, Eric R; Troxel, Wendy M; Tucker, Joan S; Miles, Jeremy N V; Kraus, Lisa; D'Amico, Elizabeth J. (2017). Individual, peer, and family factor modification of neighborhood-level effects on adolescent alcohol, cigarette, e-cigarette, and marijuana use.. Drug and alcohol dependence, 180, 76-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.07.014
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