School connectedness and substance use among early adolescents with diverse maltreatment histories

Prior work has demonstrated that school connectedness correlates with several positive outcomes for adolescents. However, little is currently known about the efficacy of school connectedness in buffering emotionally maltreated youth from engaging in risk behaviors such as adolescent substance use. Guided by resilience theory, this study examined group differences in the protective role of school connectedness in decreasing the likelihood of substance use among emotionally maltreated and non-emotionally maltreated teens (N = 156). When considering the role of prior emotional maltreatment, results revealed that exposure to emotional maltreatment was associated with a lower likelihood of endorsing both lifetime alcohol and marijuana use (Alcohol B = -6.08, S.E. = 2.36, p = .01; Marijuana B = -8.31, S.E. = 2.90, p = .004). Results demonstrated that although school connectedness was associated with less reported substance use in non-emotionally maltreated teens (Alcohol B = -1.68, S.E. = .49, p = .001; Marijuana B = -2.81, S.E. = .72, p <.001), school connectedness was not associated with less substance use for emotionally maltreated teens in this sample. Findings demonstrate the importance of exploring the unique interplay between risk and protective factors in studies of adolescents and highlight the potential role of school connectedness in the prevention of substance use for some youth.