Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms among Adolescents Treated in a Pediatric Emergency Department

Lynn Hernandez; Mary Kathryn Cancilliere; Hannah Graves; Thomas H Chun; William Lewander; Anthony Spirito

doi:10.1080/1067828X.2014.889633

Substance Use and Depressive Symptoms among Adolescents Treated in a Pediatric Emergency Department

J Child Adolesc Subst Abuse. 2016 Mar 1;25(2):124-133. doi: 10.1080/1067828X.2014.889633. Epub 2015 Dec 14.

Authors

Lynn Hernandez¹, Mary Kathryn Cancilliere², Hannah Graves², Thomas H Chun³, William Lewander³, Anthony Spirito⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
² Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
³ Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, The Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Abstract

The current study examined associations between substance use and depressed mood by gender and type of substance used (no use, alcohol, marijuana or both alcohol and marijuana) in a sample of 713 adolescents (M_age = 15.3) recruited from a Pediatric Emergency Department (PED). Adolescents who reported any marijuana use had higher overall depressed mood scores compared to all other adolescents. When examined by gender, females with both alcohol and marijuana use reported the highest overall depressed mood symptoms. These results suggest the usefulness of screening and identification of depressive symptoms among adolescents presenting to a PED for substance use-related problems.

Keywords: Adolescents; Depressed Mood; Gender Differences; Substance Use.

Abstract

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