What’s love got to do with it? Adolescent romantic networks and substance use

Abstract

This study examined how romantic aspiration network characteristics at the individual level (in-degree and out-degree) are associated with substance use (i.e. smoking and drinking) among a cross-sectional sample of US adolescents (10th grade, n = 1523) from 4 high schools in Los Angeles. Findings highlighted that, with an increase in out-degree (romantic aspiration nominations made), adolescents in our sample were less likely (OR = .824, CI = .688–.986, p < .05) to report smoking in the past 30 days. Additionally, with an increase in in-degree (romantic aspiration nominations received), adolescents were more likely (OR = 1.186, CI = 1.04–1.36, p