Introduction: Adolescence and young adulthood are critical periods of neurocognitive, psychological, and emotional development. In Assam, the rising prevalence of substance use among youth has become a pressing public health concern, shaped by rapid socio-cultural transitions and limited mental health awareness. Early initiation of substance use is strongly linked to impairments in attention, working memory, executive functioning, and emotion regulation. However, empirical evidence on these deficits among Assamese youth remains scarce. This study examined the cognitive and emotional regulation difficulties associated with Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
Methodology: A cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted with 320 participants (160 youths with clinically identified SUD and 160 matched healthy controls). Substance use severity was assessed using WHO-ASSIST, emotion regulation with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and cognitive functioning with the Trail Making Test (TMT-A and TMT-B) and a Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire. Independent t-tests evaluated group differences, and MANOVA assessed multivariate effects of substance use on cognition.
Results: Youths with SUD showed significantly poorer cognitive performance across all measures (p < 0.001), with large effect sizes for attention, processing speed, and executive functioning. Impairments were most evident in TMT-A (slower processing), TMT-B (reduced cognitive flexibility), and composite cognitive scores, indicating deficits in working memory, inhibitory control, and sustained attention. Emotion regulation difficulties were significantly higher, particularly in impulse control, goal-directed behavior, and emotional clarity (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Substance use in youth is associated with marked cognitive impairments and emotion regulation difficulties. These findings highlight the need for early neurocognitive screening.

Authors:
Proshanto KR Saha, Rajiv Gandhi University, India
Priyanka Pathak, Rajiv Gandhi University, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr PROSHANTO KR SAHA is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Rajiv Gandhi University-A Central University in India

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

Bookmark