Although smoking, alcohol and illicit drug use might as behaviors have very different individual
effects, they can be combined into a single
category insofar as previous studies suggest that the use of these three substances is correlated or comorbid (e.g., Farrell et al. 1992; Lynskaey et al. 1998) and also, because they comprise a general type of deviant behavior
often associated with externalizing behavior problems (e.g., Timmermans et al. 2008).