Violence exposure and substance use in adolescents: findings from three countries.

Objective: To investigate relationships between exposure to community violence (witnessing and victimization) and reported substance use (cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs) in a cross-national sample of adolescents, after controlling for the level of the adolescents' own violent behavior.

Method: A self-report survey was conducted in 3380 14- to 17-year-old adolescents in urban communities of 3 different countries: Antwerp, Belgium (N = 958); Arkangelsk, Russia (N = 1036); and New Haven, Connecticut (N = 1386).

Results: In all 3 countries, levels of reported smoking, alcohol use, marijuana use, and hard drug use showed increases with adolescent exposure to violence.