Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 23, Issue 5, September–October 1998, Pages 623-634
Addictive Behaviors

Frequent childhood geographic relocation: Its impact on drug use initiation and the development of alcohol and other drug-related problems among adolescents and young adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(98)00023-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Early geographic relocation has been implicated as an important correlate of psychopathology, learning difficulties, and behavioural problems among child and adolescent populations, yet systematic studies of the potential influence of relocation on youthful drug use have not been conducted. This study explored the relationship between number of geographic moves before the age of 16 and the timing of onset of drug use and progression to drug-related problems. Data were obtained from 3,700 young adults aged 18 to 35 years participating in the 1990–1991 Ontario Mental Health Supplement, a large random probability survey of the residents of the Province of Ontario, Canada. Holding constant potential confounding factors, results showed highly significant positive relationships between moving and early initiation of illicit drugs including marijuana, hallucinogens, crack/cocaine, and illicit use of prescribed drugs. Among marijuana users, moving was also associated with a hastening of time to marijuana-related problems. Relationships between moving and measures of alcohol use/problems (onset of first drink, onset of any alcohol-related problem) were either weak or nonsignificant. Important sex differences were found, with statistically significant relationships between moving and early drug use initiation and progression occurring primarily among males. Future research is required to test for possible mediating mechanisms linking relocation with drug use as well as moderating influences. Efforts should also focus on finding out why drug use appears to be a more common response to relocation among boys.

Section snippets

Theoretical rationale

Moving may be positively associated with youthful drug use for a number of reasons. First, children are seldom involved in the decision-making processes preceding a move and consequently may feel a strong sense of alienation, helplessness, and frustration. Life-events theorists consider degree of personal control over a particular event to be an important determinant of healthy psychological functioning (Newcomb & Harlow, 1986).

Second, moving often entails reduced or lost contact with close

Sample and weighting

Data for this study were obtained from the 1990–1991 Ontario Mental Health Supplement, a stratified, multistage, area probability sample of the Ontario population age 15 and older. Excluded were residents of First Nations People’s reserves, inmates, foreign service personnel, and residents of remote areas. The sample consisted of a 9,953-case subset randomly selected from eligible households participating in the third and fourth quarters of data collection of the 1990 Ontario Health Survey. The

Statistical analysis

The present analysis uses the AFT hazard model in SAS® to examine predictors of the timing of onset of drug use and progression to drug-related problems. Like other hazard models, the AFT model is advantageous over conventional techniques of analysing data such as logistic regression because it makes full use of right-censored cases (i.e., individuals who have not experienced the event of interest by the survey date) in the estimation of its parameters and at the same time permits the study of

Measurement

In the Supplement, information on childhood risk factors, drug use, and all psychiatric disorders was obtained using a modified version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). The CIDI is a structured diagnostic interview for field interviewers without any formal clinical training designed to generate DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) and ICD-10 diagnoses for psychiatric disorders. World Health Organization studies suggest that it demonstrates good

Results

Table 1 presents lifetime prevalence estimates of drug use and drug-related problems by number of geographic moves before the age of 16. For most drug categories, results indicate a steady increase in the prevalence of drug use and drug-related problems corresponding to an increasing number of childhood moves. For example, more than one in five respondents reporting four or more moves before the age of 16 report lifetime use of hallucinogens (22.8%), nearly triple the rate (8.8%) of nonmovers.

Discussion

This study explored the relationship between frequent moving during the early childhood and adolescent years and the timing of onset of drug use and progression to drug-related problems. The hypothesis that early moves would be associated with a hastening of time to first drug use and drug-related problems received strong support.

Adjusting for a number of potentially confounding factors known to influence both relocation and drug use (e.g., parental divorce, parental socioeconomic background),

Limitations and directions for future research

This study is not without its limitations. The use of retrospective data to model childhood variables raises the possibility of inaccuracies in respondent recall. Previous evidence has shown that some respondents, particularly those with a history of mental illness, may forget when events occurred or report the occurrence of distant past events closer to the present (a phenomenon known as “telescoping”). In multivariate models, underreporting or overreporting of events, which varies

Summary

The results of this study have provided new evidence of a significant positive association between childhood and adolescent geographic relocation and the initiation and progression of illicit drug use and drug-related problems. Similar results have been obtained for other behaviours related to drug use, including school dropout, deviance, sexual promiscuity, and conduct disorder.

Because environmental change for children is sufficiently potent to generate formal and informal referrals to special

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