Is parental socio-economic status related to the initiation of substance abuse by young people in an English city? An event history analysis

This paper aims to examine the relationship between parental socio-economic status (SES) and adolescent substance use. The central question posed in the title is approached in two stages. First, theoretical and empirical research in this area is reviewed. Second, data from an ongoing longitudinal study of young people in England (the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study – PADS+) are used to highlight the nature of this relationship in one city. Results from discrete-time event history analyses show that when examining what predicts initiation of substance use, familial and demographic factors emerge as important predictors, but SES does not appear to be relevant. The concluding discussion focuses on whether support is found for hypotheses derived from the existing literature and implications for future research.

► Socio-economic status is often assumed to ‘matter’ for adolescent substance use, but the evidence is far from clear.
► Many studies use data and methods unsuitable for assessing the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and adolescent substance use.
► Event history models using data from a UK cohort study (PADS+) show that parental SES is unrelated to drunkenness, smoking and cannabis use.