How do substance use behaviors change across housing hardship transitions? Asymmetric effects on smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use in young adulthood.

Housing hardship is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for substance use, yet little is known about whether entering and exiting hardship are differentially associated with addictive behaviors or whether these associations vary by gender. Drawing on stress-coping theory and the self-medication hypothesis, this study examines how housing hardship transitions are associated with smoking frequency (number of days smoked in the past 30 days), binge drinking frequency (days per month), and marijuana use (any use in the past 30 days) among young adults. Using data from Waves III (aged 18-27, M = 21.9) and IV (aged 24-34, M = 28.4) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 12,965), we employ asymmetric fixed-effects models that separately estimate associations for entering and exiting housing hardship and formally test whether they differ in magnitude. Standard fixed-effects models indicate positive associations between housing hardship and all three substance use outcomes. However, asymmetric models reveal significant asymmetry for smoking: entering housing hardship is associated with increases in smoking, whereas exiting is not associated with corresponding reductions, consistent with the persistence of nicotine dependence. Binge drinking and marijuana use display largely symmetric responses. Gender interaction analyses indicate that increases in smoking and marijuana use associated with hardship entry are more pronounced among men, while reductions in binge drinking associated with hardship exit are stronger among men. These findings suggest potential substance-specific differences in the reversibility of stress-induced use and may inform gender-responsive approaches to addiction treatment and housing support.