Neighborhood Social Disorganization in Early Adolescence and Substance Use Trajectories into Young Adulthood: The Moderating Role of Effortful Control and Parental Substance Use

Abstract

Adolescents living in socially disorganized neighborhoods may consume substances more frequently. Although some evidence suggests that such potential neighborhood influences persist into young adulthood, findings remain inconsistent. More research is needed that includes different indicators of neighborhood social disorganization, substance use outcomes, and family- and individual-level moderating factors. To address these gaps, this study examined the associations between three indicators of neighborhood social disorganization—social fragmentation, socioeconomic deprivation, and disorder—in early adolescence and cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis use trajectories into young adulthood in the Netherlands, and the moderating roles of effortful control and parental substance use. Five waves (around age 11–22) from the TRAILS (TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey; wave 1: n = 2229; age = 11.11 ± 0.56; 50.7% girls) cohort data were used. Higher social fragmentation was associated with trajectories marked by early peaking and heavy increases in alcohol use, and moderate increases in cigarette use. Higher disorder was associated with a trajectory of early but low-frequency cannabis use. Lower socioeconomic deprivation was associated with trajectories showing both moderate and heavy increases in alcohol use. These associations were mostly not moderated by effortful control and parental substance use. These findings suggest that neighborhood social disorganization in early adolescence is associated with distinct substance use trajectories into young adulthood. The patterns vary across both indicators of social disorganization and substances, highlighting the need for targeted, place-based interventions that account for these differences.