Understanding early-onset drug and alcohol outcomes among youth: The role of family structure, social factors, and interpersonal perceptions of use
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Research on adolescents focuses increasingly on features of the family in predicting and preventing illicit substance use. Multivariate analyses of data from the National Survey of Parents and Youth (N=4173) revealed numerous significant differences on risk variables associated with family structure on adolescent drug-related perceptions and substance use. Youth from dual-parent households were least likely to use drugs and were monitored more closely than single-parent youth (p<0.001). A path analytic model estimated to illuminate linkages among theoretically implicated variables revealed that family income and child's gender (p<0.001), along with family structure (p<0.05), affected parental monitoring, but not parental warmth. Monitoring and warmth, in turn, predicted adolescents' social and interpersonal perceptions of drug use (p<0.001), and both variables anticipated adolescents' actual drug use one year later (p<0.001). Results reconfirm the importance of parental monitoring and warmth and demonstrate the link between these variables, adolescents' social and intrapersonal beliefs, and their use of illicit substances.
Source: Psychology Health & Medicine
Authors: Vanessa Hemovich, Andrew Lac, William D. Crano
Institution: Claremont Graduate University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2011242559