Conference Agenda

Background: Peer influence has been reported as a predominant risk factor of harmful substance use among young people. Given the high prevalence of substance use among young people in Ghana, an understanding of young people’s social networks will be central to developing and implementing preventive interventions. This study described the social network features and substance use prevalence of senior high school students in Ghana, and the underlying mechanisms that may influence substance use behaviour within friendship networks.

Methods: Using a mixed methods study design, we conducted a social network analysis among senior high school students in two schools in a Ghanaian municipality. We used a bounded social network approach and implemented a social network survey as the first phase of data collection process. A second phase consisted of in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of the survey participants. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. We analyzed qualitative data using a thematic framework approach.

Findings: Quantitative findings revealed a relatively high prevalence of any substance use among the participants (63.5%, 44.7%, and 64.1% in networks 1, 2, and 3 respectively). Also, we found a relatively low friendship network density and average level of reciprocated ties. Gender identity was identified as a strong predictor of friendship network formation. The qualitative findings revealed that the substance use values and norms of a friendship network, as well as traditional gender norms influence individuals’ substance use behaviour.

Conclusion: The study provides findings on the association between young people’s social network features, gender norms, and their substance use behaviour. The findings can be leveraged for the design and implementation of school-based interventions aimed at preventing substance use among young people in Ghana.

Previous literature consistently demonstrates that American Indian (AI) youth have earlier initiation and heavier use of substances compared to other racial groups. This study analyzes the social networks of Alaska Native (AN) youth, focusing on the role of school, family, culture, and peer influences on substance use, depression, and suicide. This cross-sectional analysis included 150 seventh to twelfth grade students enrolled in a charter school in Fairbanks, Alaska. In addition to analyzing the role of peer networks, this study incorporates students’ relationship to school staff. Students were first provided with a school roster and asked to identify their friends. They were next provided with a roster of faculty and selected whom they would go to for support and ranked how likely they were to seek their support. Reciprocal ties between peers were protective against substance use. Intriguingly, having more staff in a student’s network and stronger relationships with those staff were protective against substance use. These novel findings, particularly concerning the influence of staff, provide a new dimension to our current understanding of substance use in AN youth.

This analysis illustrates the complexities of social influence governing substance use while considering other common predictors of substance use among youth, such as depression and suicide. It highlights the need to consider both risk and protective factors within social networks, laying the groundwork for well-informed interventions. The results support harnessing the positive influence of peer networks and staff relationships to reduce substance use in adolescents, presenting an optimistic perspective for community-based interventions.

Adolescent social networks have been shown to be strongly associate with use of tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol. In this study we replicate those associations and make four additional contributions to the literature. First, we show that both perceived friend use and friend self-report are independently related to associated with individual use. Second, adolescents who named more friends in response to a network question were less likely to report substance use, whereas those who were named as friends were no more or less likely to report use. Third, students who identified as Asian ethnicity were less likely to report any substance use but remained susceptible to peer influence on substance use. Finally, we show that being named as a friend by Asian students was protective against use of all three substances. Data were collected from up to 14 demographically diverse schools in southern California and consist of 23,012 surveys collected bi-annually from 9th to 12th grade.