Stress and Emerging Adult Substance Use: Testing the Buffering Effects of Parent-Provided Dyadic Coping

Emerging adults (EAs) report high levels of stress, which increase their risk for alcohol and tobacco use. Research has identified specific strategies parents use to help EAs manage their stress, called parent-provided dyadic coping. This cross-sectional study examined whether parent-provided dyadic coping buffers EAs enrolled in 2-year or 4-year colleges (N = 706; M_age = 19.07; 41% White; 71% Female) from the effects of past-week stressors on their substance use. We test 1) the associations between EAs’ past-week stressors in three domains (work or school stressors family stressors, relationship stressors outside of the family) and their past month use of alcohol and tobacco and 2) whether parent-provided dyadic coping moderated these associations. Emerging adults’ past-week stressors at work or school and in relationships outside of the family (i.e., with peers, romantic partners) were associated with increased substance use. However, these associations were not significant for family stressors. Dyadic coping moderated several of the associations between EA past-week stressors and tobacco use but not alcohol use. In general, EA past-week stressors were positively associated with tobacco use when dyadic coping was low (and at times, average). However, EA stressors did not predict tobacco use when dyadic coping was high. Results were nuanced by the type of parent-provided dyadic coping strategy and stressor experienced. Parent-provided dyadic coping was most effective as a buffer against the effects of past-week work/school or family stressors. Dyadic coping may be an important intervention target to ameliorate the effects of stressors and reduce tobacco use during emerging adulthood.