Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

There is strong research evidence for both a direct and indirect link between educational attainment and the health of young adults. Educational attainment is a key marker for future health mediated through work and economic resources and supports for healthy lifestyles. Substance use in adolescence is also an important risk factor for adverse health outcomes in adulthood. Early substance use is a risk factor for developing substance abuse and dependence in adulthood, which can affect ones health as well as their economic position. To date however, what we know about the links between education, substance use and health in young adults has mainly come from retrospective or cross-sectional studies. We know little about how particular substance use patterns and educational attainment in adolescence interact and determine physical and mental health in adulthood. While it has been shown that substance use and educational success in adolescence are inversely related with each other, few studies have examined their interrelationships in a longitudinal perspective. It is possible that substance use is just a marker for a host of risk and protective factors such as parenting styles or household income - or, alternatively, some patterns of substance use directly impair school performance. I have an opportunity to use a data set that has followed a group of young people age 12-16 through into adulthood (age 22-28). This data set will enable me to use advanced statistical analysis to clarify the unique role of substance use and educational pathways in the prediction of health outcomes in young adulthood. Further, this study will examine how substance use and education fit into the larger matrix of individual (i.e. healthy lifestyle) and contextual factors (i.e. peer group) that influence health in young adults. Understanding these relationships will contribute to the knowledge that is needed to guide services and policies that will support healthy transitions to adulthood.