Adolescent Changes in Implicit Cognitions and Prevention of Substance Abuse

This chapter explores the growth of implicit substance-use associations during early adolescence and their implications for the development of primary and secondary prevention programs. Increases in implicit measures of substance-use cognitions are highly correlated with, and prospectively predict, the initiation of youth alcohol and marijuana use. We propose that implicit memory measures may uniquely reveal decision-relevant indices of incentive motivation and behavioral choice. As such, implicit measures should be useful to (1) identify and target the stage of risk for substance-use initiation, (2) provide early sensitive measures of effective change from prevention programs, and (3) guide the development of new methods of persuasive messages that focus on behaviorally relevant cognitive changes. Adolescence is a time of significant change, development, and risk. During the formative adolescent years, young people increasingly interact with the larger social world and acquire new cognitive representations that shape their current and future life choices. Curious adolescents explore their world, try new things, test limits, and take risks. Given the current prevalence and availability of both licit and illicit drugs, it is not surprising that this stage of novelty and exploration often involves the initiation of substance use (Johnston et al., 2004). Although substance use in adolescence typically involves experimentation, rather than problem use, adolescent substance use is associated with a host of consequences, including academic problems, risky sexual activity, and unsafe driving practices (Everett et al., 1999; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1997). Recent evidence demonstrates that changes in cognitive representations, such as expectancies and memory associations, often predict and mediate changes in substance use. The research presented in this book illustrates how measures of implicit cognition provide a unique and powerful tool for assessing the cognitive changes that precede and accompany substance use. By identifying C H A P T E R 439 28-Wiers-4815.qxd 9/15/2005 7:46 PM Page 439