Intraindividual variability of school bonding and adolescents' beliefs about the effect of substance use on future aspirations.

The study examines the dynamic relationship between school bonding, beliefs about the deleterious effects of substance use on future aspirations, and subsequent substance use among a sample of 1065 male and female middle school students. First, a mediation model was assessed. Adolescents' perceptions about the harmful effects of substance use on their future aspirations emerged as a salient mediator of the relationship between school bonding and subsequent substance use. Second, the intraindividual variability of school bonding and its effect on students' beliefs about the potential harm of substance use on future aspirations was assessed through random-coefficient models. Students who tended to be poorly bonded to school were less likely to perceive that substance use may impede the attainment of their future goals. Furthermore, a strong intraindividual effect of school bonding was observed, indicating that as a student became more or less bonded to school his/her belief that substance use could affect future aspirations similarly changed.