@article{ref1,
title="Posttraumatic growth, stressful life events, and relationship with substance use behaviors among alternative high school students: a prospective study",
journal="Psychology and Health",
year="2014",
author="Arpawong, Thalida E. and Sussman, Steve and Milam, Joel E. and Unger, Jennifer B. and Land, Helen and Sun, Ping and Rohrbach, Louise A.",
volume="30",
number="4",
pages="475-494",
abstract="A highly stressful life event (SLE) can elicit positive psychosocial growth, referred to as Post-traumatic Growth (PTG) among youth. We examined PTG and the number of SLEs for their influence on substance use behaviors among a sample of older, diverse alternative high school students participating in a drug prevention program (n=564; mean age=16.8; 49% female; 65% Hispanic). Surveys assessed PTG, SLEs, and substance use behaviors at 2-year follow-up. Multi-level regression models were run to examine the effect of PTG and number of SLEs on frequency of substance use at two-year follow-up, controlling for baseline substance use, sociodemographic variables, peer substance use, attrition propensity, and treatment group. Greater PTG scores were associated with lower frequencies of alcohol use, getting drunk on alcohol, binge drinking, marijuana use, and less substance abuse at two-year follow-up, but not associated with cigarette or hard drug use. Also, PTG did not moderate the relationship between cumulative number of SLEs and substance use behaviors, rather PTG appears to be protective against negative effects of a single, life-altering SLE. Fostering PTG from a particularly poignant SLE may be useful for prevention programs targeting alcohol, marijuana, and substance abuse behaviors among high-risk youth.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0887-0446",
doi="10.1080/08870446.2014.979171",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2014.979171"
}