Emotion Regulation and Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents

Abstract

Chapter 11 evaluates how emotion dysregulation enhances vulnerability to substance use disorders in adolescents. In late adolescence (15–18 years of age), recurrent substance users are prone to develop substance use disorder in adulthood. Substance use disorder may be broadly characterized as the inability to regulate substance consumption, deleteriously impacting social functioning, whilst accumulating a myriad of negative consequences and recurring risk to the self. Research suggests emotion dysregulation may be a predisposing factor that presents prior to onset of disorder. Moreover, dysregulation in cognitive, emotional and behavioral domains may be interconnected processes; substance abuse presenting as a product of overall dysregulation. Although theoretical efforts have outlined conceptual models delineating the relationship between emotion regulation and substance abuse, limited evidence has been garnered in adolescent samples. From a treatment perspective, school-based interventions centered on fostering adaptive emotion regulation skills have demonstrated efficacy, and maintained positive findings at long-term follow-up.