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Several risk and protective factors are influential in predicting who uses or abstains from illicit substances during the high school years. The 2014 national cohort data from the Monitoring the Future survey shows the demographics, psychosocial factors, and attitudes regarding substance use that predict abstention by twelfth-graders (versus those who report any lifetime use of any illicit drugs). Being older, having a higher rate of sensation-seeking behaviors, perceiving drugs as easy to obtain, and participation of some social activities were associated with a lower rate of abstention. In contrast, being optimistic, involvement in school activities, perceiving drug and alcohol use as high risk, believing their peers disapprove of substance use, and personally disapproving of substance use were associated with greater abstention from lifetime substance use. A similar model including negative attitudes and experiences (nonuse-related) with marijuana was associated with a greater likelihood to abstain from substances. We examine possible explanations and prevention implications of these findings and discuss the role of abstention in post-high school substance use risks.

Background: The risk for problematic gambling and associated high‐risk behaviors is elevated during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Activities with gambling‐like features and novel forms of gambling may place youth at an increased risk for problem gambling. Aim and method: The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the association between both activities with gambling‐like features and novel gambling activities and problem gambling among youth while examining the role of psychopathology and cognitive processes. Six databases (PsychINFO, MEDLINE, PubMed, Social Work Abstracts, Technology Collection, and Scopus) were searched in November 2021 for peer‐reviewed articles investigating the association between the aforementioned variables among youth up to the age of 25 years. Risk of bias was assessed using the Observational Study Quality Evaluation. Findings: Forty‐five articles were included in the review. Positive associations were observed between engagement in activities with gambling‐like features (e.g., video games, social casino games, loot boxes) and problem gambling. Increased involvement with novel forms of gambling (e.g., online sports betting, fantasy sports, and esports betting) were also associated with a greater risk for problematic gambling. Males reported higher rates of engagement in these activities and a greater risk of problem gambling than females. Impulsivity, risk taking, cognitive distortions, and specific emotional vulnerabilities were associated with an increased risk of problem gambling. Conclusions: Despite the need for additional longitudinal research controlling for relevant confounders, these findings underline how engagement in activities with gambling‐like features are relevant in the developmental trajectory toward problem gambling. Read the Commentary on this article at doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13760. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The personality traits constraint (CN) and negative emotionality (NE) have been more (CN) or less (NE) consistently associated with alcoholism. The authors examined the association of personality at age 17 with timing of onset and with prospective prediction of nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug disorders 3 years later in a twin sample (569 females; 432 males). Earlier onset of alcohol and drug disorders (by age 17) was related to significantly lower CN compared with later onsets (by age 20); high NE was related to either onset. NE, as well as CN, uniquely predicted new onsets of all 3 types of substance use disorders by follow-up, with preexisting substance disorders taken into account. Personality traits confer generalized risk for developing any substance disorder, though some traits are more strongly linked with some substance disorders than with others. Keywords: personality, substance abuse/dependence, alcohol, nicotine, developmental

The authors examined genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change in heavy drinking from late adolescence to young adulthood in a sample of 1,152 twin pairs. In men, heavy drinking was similarly heritable at ages 17 ([h.sup.2] = .57) and 20 ([h.sup.2] = .39), and its stability owed primarily to common genetic factors. In women, heavy drinking was less heritable than in men at ages 17 ([h.sup.2] = .18) and 20 ([h.sup.2] = .30) and its stability was primarily due to enduring shared environmental influences. P3 amplitude, an event-related brain potential marker of alcoholism risk, was less predictive of heavy drinking in women than in men, providing further support for the proposition that biological factors have less impact on heavy drinking in young adult women than in young adult men. Keywords: etiology, heavy drinking, P3 amplitude, late adolescence

Research suggests major mental disorders co-occur at higher than chance levels. In adult samples, a two factor structure emerges when modeling the higher order structure of psychopathology. Specifically, disorders tend to co-aggregate into two dimensions: Internalizing (depression and anxiety) and Externalizing (acting out, impulsive, and addictive) disorders. Despite this large body of evidence, few studies have integrated problem gambling into this overall model. We used confirmatory factor analysis to model how the symptom count of gambling fits into the structure of psychopathology in a large, community based young adult twin sample of men and women (age 24; N = 1329). Twins were assessed via in-person, structured diagnostic interviews on disorders including: Major Depression, Phobias, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety Disorders (internalizing) and Substance Use Disorders, Gambling Problems (self-report), and Antisocial Behaviors (externalizing). The data were fit to a two-factor structure, with gambling symptoms loading most highly on externalizing, rather than internalizing. The problem gambling loadings did not differ by sex. Implications of these findings suggest that during emerging adulthood gambling problems are best classified and conceptualized in the realm of externalizing disorders for both males and females. Results also suggest prevention and intervention efforts be aimed at young adults who exhibit commonly co-occurring psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]