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Childhood stress can lead to substance use in adolescents of both sexes

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
 
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03 June 2024, 15:02

Childhood stress is associated with earlier substance use in adolescents of both sexes, according to research presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting, ENDO 2024, in Boston, Mass. The researchers found that traumatic events may increase the risk of substance use in boys, while environmental stress and early puberty may increase the risk in girls.

Early life stress is childhood experiences with violence, neglect, and conflict. Approximately 20% of adolescents in the United States experience early life stress at some point, and these experiences influence adolescent and adult health behaviors.

Onset of substance use at an earlier age is associated with more severe substance use disorder in adulthood. Early stress and early puberty have both been associated with early substance use, but it was not clear whether these associations were the same for boys and girls.

Alexandra Donovan, PhD, is a principal investigator at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, California.

Donovan and her colleagues assessed sex differences in the impact of puberty and stress on alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use by age 13. They analyzed data from 8,608 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study who were 9 or 10 years old at the start of the study. The study included data from the first three years of the ABCD study.

Researchers looked at the effects of early stress and found that it increased the likelihood of earlier use of alcohol, nicotine or cannabis in both sexes.

Early stress increased the odds of early substance use in boys by 9-18% and in girls by 13-20%. Environmental stress increased the odds of early nicotine and cannabis use in girls by 15-24%. Traumatic stress increased the odds in boys by 15-16%. High pubertal development scores increased the odds of early nicotine use in girls, while decreasing the odds in boys.

“Our study confirms the link between early stress and substance use in adolescents, expanding our understanding of how this link may differ by gender,” Donovan said. “These findings can be used to refine school-based prevention programs by encouraging a more individualized approach.”

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