Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Use, Misuse and Addiction

Adolescence and emerging adulthood are periods of heightened vulnerability to substance use, shaped by ongoing neurodevelopmental change, shifting reward and stress systems, and evolving family and social contexts. Early patterns of use are linked to a higher risk of later substance use disorders and psychiatric comorbidity, making this a critical developmental window for research and intervention. The field is also seeing rapid change in the substances young people are exposed to, including new psychoactive substances, alongside growing interest in harm reduction, epigenetic and neurobiological explanatory models of addiction, and behavioral addictions that share risk pathways with substance use. Progress increasingly draws on developmental, neurobiological, and family-systems perspectives to identify risk and protective factors and to design prevention and treatment strategies tailored to young people.Substance use among adolescents and emerging adults remains a major public health concern, with lasting consequences for mental health, development, and wellbeing. This Research Topic aims to deepen understanding of how substance use unfolds across this critical period and to support timely, developmentally sensitive responses that can guide clinical practice and public health policy. We seek contributions that connect early use patterns to later outcomes, clarify shared and distinct mechanisms across substances and behavioral addictions, and inform prevention, screening, and intervention approaches for young people, including approaches that address stigma and improve access to care.This Research Topic welcomes research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, opioids, stimulants, new psychoactive substances, and behavioral addictions in developing populations. Relevant themes include:• Impulsivity, reward and stress processing, trauma, sleep disturbance, chronic pain, and co-occurring psychiatric conditions• Personality-based and other targeted prevention and harm reduction approaches• Parenting, attachment, and family dynamics in relation to substance use in adolescents and young adults• Sex differences and social determinants of risk• Genetic and epigenetic models of addiction vulnerability• We also welcome work addressing stigma, equity, and access to care for young people with substance use concerns.Topic Editor Marc Potenza declares consultancy work with Boehringer Ingelheim, Neurofinity and a patent application with Novartis filed jointly with Yale University. He has also received research support from Mohegan Sun. The other Topic Editors report no competing interests related to this Research Topic.This Research Topic complements the 28th Annual Global International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) Congress, in Rotterdam organized by the International Society of Addiction Medicine, taking place from October 1st to October 3rd, 2026.If you were not directly invited by the Topic Editors but wish to submit, you are welcome to do so; however, please contact us at childandadolescentpsychiatry@frontiersin.org before submitting and wait for our confirmation that your manuscript is within scope. Topic editors: Marc N Potenza, Linda C Mayes, Kevin M. Gray, Patricia Conrod Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86287/adolescent-and-young-adult-substance-use-misuse-and-addiction