Resilience through harm reduction? Protective behavioral strategies as a factor of resilience among Polish young adults using various psychoactive substances (2024)

Resiliency theory might provide a conceptual framework for understanding why adverse substance-related consequences vary considerably among young adults using psychoactive substances. Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) are behaviors that reduce substance use and related consequences. Despite such suggestions, to date no research has explicitly treated PBS as resilience factors. The purpose of this study was to examine compensatory and protective models of resilience among young adults using various substances. Data were obtained from an online questionnaire distributed through online social networks. Participants were Polish young adults (18-30 years old; M = 22, SD = 3.6; about 30% female and 1.3% non-binary; N = 7253), who reported using substances, other than alcohol or nicotine, in the last 12 months. After controlling for sociodemographics, hierarchical regression analyses of both substance-related harms and SUDs indicated the main effects of risk and protective factors, and the interaction between substance use and PBS. The models explained about 50% and 52% of the dependent variables variance, respectively. The results of this cross-sectional study provide support for both compensatory and protective models of resilience. This presents a rationale for recognizing PBS use as resilience factors that help young adults reduce substance-related harms. Theoretical discussion and practical implications are provided. [Author's abstract]