In collaboration with co-investigators Wade Jacobsen (UMD), and Nayan Ramirez (CSU-Northridge), the project titled “The impact of longitudinal social networks on young adult substance use and misuse,” will consider how adolescent peer network structures, as well as their stability over time, impact substance use during the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
By constructing a network dataset across a uniquely long period of twelve years, the project will consider how patterns of direct and indirect friendship in adolescence impacts adult substance use behaviors. The findings will provide new insight about identifying targets for future interventions that aim to reduce long-term, problematic substance use in young adult populations.