To compare the relations of social self-control and sensation seeking with substance use across samples of US and Russian adolescents.
Cross-sectional data were obtained from 362 tenth-graders from Ufa, Russia, and 965 tenth-graders from California.
Lack of social self-control was significantly related with higher alcohol and hard drug use in the Russian sample and higher cigarette use in the US sample. Higher sensation-seeking showed significant associations with higher cigarette and alcohol use in the Russian sample and higher alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use in the US sample.
As with US adolescents, prevention programs for Russian adolescents may also benefit from being tailored to higher sensation-seekers and including self-control skills training.
Notes
Cites: J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004 Mar;58(3):238-4214966239