The Effect of Childhood Conduct Problems on Early Onset Substance Use: An Examination of the Mediating and Moderating Roles of Parenting Styles.

• NCJ Number: 254415
• Journal: Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: 2019 Pages: 139-162
• Author(s): Marvin D. Krohn; Pilar Larroulet; Terrence P Thornberry; Thomas A. Loughran
• Date Published: 2019
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-JN-CX-0007
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the role that effective parenting plays in the relationship between childhood conduct problems and the early onset of drug use.

Abstract

Effective parenting was posited to have a direct protective effect on drug use, a moderating effect on the relationship between conduct problems and early onset, and mediated the relationship between conduct problems and early onset. Two-generational panel data were used to examine these relationships among 263 parent-child dyads. Support was found for the direct protective effect of effective parenting on early onset and for a partial mediating effect of parenting in the relationship between conduct problems and early onset. No support was found for parenting moderating the risk posed by having childhood conduct problems. Implications for preventing childhood conduct problems from resulting in early onset of drug use through enhancing efforts to help parents cope with such problems are discussed. (publisher abstract modified)