Objective: to describe the characteristics of resilience and its association with the use of alcohol and tobacco among adolescents living in Eastern Tijuana, in the Northern border of Mexico.
Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study on a population of 7,611 adolescents from 11 to 16 years old, attending school in the city of Tijuana, Baja California. The sample was estimated in 633 participants, selected through cluster sampling. Sociodemographic variables were collected, their history of use of tobacco and alcohol, as well as resilience (RS-14) (minimum 14 to maximum 98 scores; very low, low, normal, high or very high). Descriptive bivariate statistics were used, as well as logistical regression models adjusted by gender for the “use of alcohol of tobacco” variable.
Results: the study included 710 adolescents (50.7% were female); 46% of them had used alcohol or tobacco at some point in their lives, and 27.1% during the past year (31.5% female; 23.3% male; p= 0.005); 29% showed high resilience and 25.5% showed very high resilience. The most frequently obtained high scores were for the statements: I am someone who can be trusted in emergencies (42.5%), I feel proud of my achievements (41.3%), and Life makes sense (33.1%). A negative effect of resilience was found on alcohol and tobacco use at some point in life (ORa= 0.984; CI95% [0.978-0.990]) and during the past year (ORa= 0.987; CI95% [0.981-0.994]).
Conclusion: the higher the resilience, the lower the likelihood of using alcohol or tobacco at some point in life and during the last year. Future interventions should consider these results.