The relationship between housing type and adolescent substance use across alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco
 
Christina Pulley, MPH(c) *, Natashia De Silva, MPH, Mikaela Rojas, MPH†, Jocelyn Gutierrez, MPH(c), Christopher Rogers, PhD, Myriam Forster, PhD, MPH
 
Background: Structural factors such as housing instability and type may influence adolescent health behaviors. While research increasingly addresses environmental and social contributors to substance use, limited work has investigated how housing characteristics directly relate to youth engagement with alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco.
 
Objective: This study assessed the association between housing type and substance use among adolescents
across three substance categories. We also explored whether housing moderated the effect of key sociodemographic factors on substance use.
 
Methods: Data are drawn from the SHARE Project, a multi-state, school-based survey of adolescents aged 12–20 (M = 15.3 years, SD = 1.2). The analytic sample included 575 youth with valid birthdate data, 52% of whom were female. The sample was racially and ethnically diverse, comprising 31% non-Hispanic White, 29% African American, 24% Hispanic, 9% Multiracial, and 7% Asian adolescents. Separate logistic regression models were run for each substance (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco), and housing type was tested as a predictor. Moderation models were also tested with controls for age, sex, ethnicity, and state.
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Results: Housing type was significantly associated with substance use in all three models (alcohol: p <001; cannabis: p = .01; tobacco: p = .02). Adolescents in non-traditional or unstable housing settings reported greater likelihood of substance use. However, moderation analyses did not yield significant interactions between housing and sociodemographic variables, suggesting housing did not modify those relationships.
 
Discussion: Findings indicate that housing type is a robust predictor of substance use across multiple substance categories among adolescents. These results highlight the importance of including housing context in substance use prevention efforts and suggest that future interventions might benefit from targeting youth in precarious housing environments.