Emotion's role in challenging interpersonal contexts and substance use: a multilevel mediation analysis
Date
2024
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Abstract
Emotions have a well-established role in substance use, however there are several mixed findings on how exactly positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) influence substance use. Interpersonal contexts are known to influence both emotions and substance use, especially among youth. This study attempted to clarify the relationship of emotions and substance use by hypothesizing that there is a cascade effect of challenging interpersonal contexts (CICs) that facilitate acute changes in PA and NA which, in turn, leads to increased substance use. This study used secondary data from a parent ecological momentary assessments (EMA) study to examine the links between CICs, emotions, and substance use in a sample of young adult college students. Multilevel path analysis results echoed other studies in that an occurrence of a CIC was associated with participants feeling overall worse at the same moment (more NA, less PA). Interestingly, at the within-person level, PA at the previous moment exhibited a significant positive direct effect on substance use at the next moment. CICs at the previous moment exhibited an indirect effect on substance use at the next moment through acute changes in PA at the within level. CICs also exhibited a direct positive effect on substance use at the between-person level. There were no significant observed effects for NA at either the within- or between-person level. Our study replicated how CICs can make individuals feel worse while also indicating unique findings of PA's role in how CICs are associated with substance use.
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Subject
emotion
positive affect
challenging interpersonal contexts
substance use
negative affect