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Adolescents’ Exposure to Disasters and Substance Use

  • Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry (B Pfefferbaum, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

This paper reviews the impact of exposure to man-made or natural disasters on adolescent substance use. It covers empirical studies published from 2005 to 2015 concerning (a) the scope of the problem, (b) vulnerable groups and risk and protective factors, and (c) evidence-based interventions. The review suggests a strong link between adolescent substance use and exposure to either man-made or natural disaster. Vulnerable groups include adolescents with previous exposure to traumatic events, living in areas that are continually exposed to disasters, and ethnic minorities. Risk and protective factors at the individual, familial, community, and societal levels are described based on the bioecological model of mass trauma. Given that mass trauma is unfortunately a global problem, it is important to establish international interdisciplinary working teams to set gold standards for comparative studies on the etiology for adolescent substance use in the context of disasters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hebrew University School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Mount Scopus, 91905, Jerusalem, Israel

    Miriam Schiff

  2. Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street W, Toronto, ON, M5S1V4, Canada

    Lin Fang

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  1. Miriam Schiff
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Correspondence to Miriam Schiff.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry

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Schiff, M., Fang, L. Adolescents’ Exposure to Disasters and Substance Use. Curr Psychiatry Rep 18, 57 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0693-2

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