Family and Peer Influences on Adolescent Substance Use

Alcohol and other substance use among adolescents has been increasingly recognized as a potential deterrent to healthy adolescent development because the abusive use of such substances may seriously undermine the successful resolution of major developmental life tasks. The articles in this special issue illuminate the multiple family and peer influences that impact adolescent substance use and abuse. Collectively, they emphasize the need for greater integration of developmental theory and application in our attempts to understand the multiple factors and processes that influence the pervasive use and abuse of substances by adolescents. Importantly, the application of a developmental perspective to the study of family and peer processes as contributors to adolescent substance use will facilitate efforts to inform social policy decision-making as it relates to substance use preventive and treatment interventions at both the micro and macro levels.