Family Factors in the Lives of Drug Users and Abusers (From Drug Abuse, P 207-223, 1987, Raymond J Reitz, ed. -- See NCJ-127612)

• NCJ Number: 127621
• Author(s): A P Jurich; C J Polson; J A Jurich; R A Bates
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Phi Delta Kappa
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from Adolescence, V 20, N 77 (Spring 1985), P 143-159

Annotation

A review of the research literature and interviews with 48 male and female high school adolescents and their closest family members in a midwestern State formed the basis of an analysis of the family factors related to adolescent drug use and abuse.

Abstract

The literature review suggested that the following nine family factors influenced drug use: parental absence, discipline, scapegoating, hypocritical morality, a communication gap between the parent and the child, parental divorce, conflicts between the parents, family breakup, and the use of "psychological crutches" such as drug abuse and denial to cope with stress. The interviews distinguished between drug use and drug abuse and found that drug users were less likely to come from families where there was a communication gap and more likely to come from families that used democratic disciplinary techniques. In contrast, drug abusers came from families where there was a communication gap and either laissez faire or authoritarian discipline. Drug abusers also came from families where the person whom they defined as most powerful tended to use "psychological crutches" to cope with stress. Table and 85 references (Author abstract modified)