Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

A Typology of Substance Use Among Pregnant Teens in the United States

  • Published:
Maternal and Child Health Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives Previous research suggests that, in general, youth who become pregnant during their teenage years tend to report elevated levels of substance use prior to conception and substantial reductions in use during pregnancy. While such studies provide insight into aggregate patterns of adolescent substance use in relation to pregnancy, they may have the unintended effect of masking the behavioral heterogeneity of pregnant teens. Methods The present study employs data from a large, population-based study of adolescents in the United States. We employ latent class analysis to identify subgroups of pregnant adolescents (ages 12–17; n = 810) on the basis of variables measuring the past 12-month and past 30-day use of an extensive array of substances. Results Results revealed a four class solution. Classes were identified as Class 1: Abstainers (n = 344, 42.47 %), Class 2: Drinkers (n = 303, 37.41 %), Class 3: Alcohol and Cannabis Users (n = 77, 9.51 %), and Class 4: Polydrug Users (n = 86, 10.62 %). The Abstainers class had the highest proportion of Hispanic youth (34.3 %) as well as the highest proportion of youth residing in households earning less than $20,000 per year (44.2 %). The Polydrug Users class had the highest proportion of youth who were in late adolescence (75.58 %), non-Hispanic white (54.65 %), high-income (13.95 %), and in their first trimester of pregnancy (58.33 %). Conclusions for Practice Findings point to an important degree of heterogeneity among pregnant teens and may have implications for the development of interventions designed for youth exhibiting disconcerting patterns of substance use prior to pregnancy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
€32.70 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Netherlands)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Amaro, H., Zuckerman, B., & Cabral, H. (1989). Drug use among adolescent mothers: Profile of risk. Pediatrics, 84(1), 144–151.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders DSM-IV-TR fourth edition (text revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Barnet, B., Duggan, A. K., Wilson, M. D., & Joffe, A. (1995). Association between postpartum substance use and depressive symptoms, stress, and social support in adolescent mothers. Pediatrics, 96(4), 659–666.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Bessa, M. A., Mitsuhiro, S. S., Chalem, E., Barros, M. M., Guinsburg, R., & Laranjeira, R. (2010). Underreporting of use of cocaine and marijuana during the third trimester of gestation among pregnant adolescents. Addictive Behaviors, 35(3), 266–269.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Blinn-Pike, L., Berger, T. J., Hewett, J., & Oleson, J. (2004). Sexually abstinent adolescents an 18-month follow-up. Journal of Adolescent Research, 19(5), 495–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chapman, S. L. C., & Wu, L. T. (2013). Substance use among adolescent mothers: A review. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(5), 806–815.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. De Genna, N. M., Cornelius, M. D., & Donovan, J. E. (2009). Risk factors for young adult substance use among women who were teenage mothers. Addictive Behaviors, 34(5), 463–470.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. DeLisi, M., Vaughn, M. G., & Salas-Wright, C. P. (2015). Rumble: Prevalence and correlates of group fighting among adolescents in the United States. Behavioral Sciences, 5(2), 214–229.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Fergus, S., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2005). Adolescent resilience: A framework for understanding healthy development in the face of risk. Annual Review of Public Health, 26, 399–419.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gilchrist, L. D., Hussey, J. M., Gillmore, M. R., Lohr, M. J., & Morrison, D. M. (1996). Drug use among adolescent mothers: Prepregnancy to 18 months postpartum. Journal of Adolescent Health, 19(5), 337–344.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Guo, J., Stanton, B., Cottrell, L., Clemens, R. L., Li, X., Harris, C., et al. (2005). Substance use among rural adolescent virgins as a predictor of sexual initiation. Journal of Adolescent Health, 37(3), 252–255.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., & Arthur, M. W. (2002). Promoting science-based prevention in communities. Addictive Behaviors, 27(6), 951–976.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Houck, C. D., Lescano, C. M., Brown, L. K., Tolou-Shams, M., Thompson, J., DiClemente, R., et al. (2006). “Islands of risk”: Subgroups of adolescents at risk for HIV. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 31(6), 619–629.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Huizink, A. C., & Mulder, E. J. (2006). Maternal smoking, drinking or cannabis use during pregnancy and neurobehavioral and cognitive functioning in human offspring. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30(1), 24–41.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Jung, T., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2008). An introduction to latent class growth analysis and growth mixture modeling. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 302–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kaiser, M. M., & Hays, B. J. (2005). Health-risk behaviors in a sample of first-time pregnant adolescents. Public Health Nursing, 22(6), 483–493.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Morrison, D. M., Spencer, M. S., & Gillmore, M. R. (1998). Beliefs about substance use among pregnant and parenting adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8(1), 69–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Odgers, C. L., Caspi, A., Nagin, D. S., Piquero, A. R., Slutske, W. S., Milne, B. J., et al. (2008). Is it important to prevent early exposure to drugs and alcohol among adolescents? Psychological Science, 19(10), 1037–1044.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Poulin, C., & Graham, L. (2001). The association between substance use, unplanned sexual intercourse and other sexual behaviours among adolescent students. Addiction, 96(4), 607–621.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., et al. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(10), 823–832.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Salas-Wright, C. P., Hernandez, L., Maynard, B. R., Saltzman, L. Y., & Vaughn, M. G. (2014). Alcohol use among Hispanic early adolescents in the United States: An examination of behavioral risk and protective profiles. Substance Use and Misuse, 49(7), 864–877.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Salas-Wright, C. P., Olate, R., & Vaughn, M. G. (2014). Substance use, violence, and HIV risk behavior among at-risk youth in El Salvador and the United States: Cross-national profiles of the SAVA Syndemic. Victims & Offenders. doi:10.1080/15564886.2014.940435.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Salas-Wright, C. P., Vaughn, M. G., Hodge, D. R., & Perron, B. E. (2012). Religiosity profiles of American youth in relation to substance use, violence, and delinquency. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(12), 1560–1575.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Salas-Wright, C. P., Vaughn, M., Ugalde, J., & Todic, J. (2015). Substance use and teen pregnancy in the United States: Evidence from the NSDUH 2002–2012. Addictive Behaviors, 45, 218–225.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies (SAMHSA). (2011). Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National findings. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Smith, L. M., LaGasse, L. L., Derauf, C., Grant, P., Shah, R., Arria, A., et al. (2008). Prenatal methamphetamine use and neonatal neurobehavioral outcome. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 30(1), 20–28.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Spears, G. V., Stein, J. A., & Koniak-Griffin, D. (2010). Latent growth trajectories of substance use among pregnant and parenting adolescents. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 24(2), 322.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Stueve, A., & O’Donnell, L. N. (2005). Early alcohol initiation and subsequent sexual and alcohol risk behaviors among urban youths. American Journal of Public Health, 95(5), 887.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Thompson, J. C., Kao, T. C., & Thomas, R. J. (2005). The relationship between alcohol use and risk-taking sexual behaviors in a large behavioral study. Preventive Medicine, 41(1), 247–252.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Vaughn, M. G., Salas-Wright, C. P., DeLisi, M., & Maynard, B. R. (2014). Violence and externalizing behavior among youth in the United States: Is there a severe 5%? Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 12(1), 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by Grant Number R25 DA030310 (PI: J. Anthony) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd D3500, Austin, TX, 78712-0358, USA

    Christopher P. Salas-Wright & Jenny Ugalde

  2. School of Social Work, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Michael G. Vaughn

Authors
  1. Christopher P. Salas-Wright
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael G. Vaughn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jenny Ugalde
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher P. Salas-Wright.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Salas-Wright, C.P., Vaughn, M.G. & Ugalde, J. A Typology of Substance Use Among Pregnant Teens in the United States. Matern Child Health J 20, 646–654 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1864-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1864-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation