Parenting Style and Adolescent Clinical Severity: Findings From Two Substance Abuse Treatment Studies

• NCJ Number: 225213
• Journal: Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 440-463
• Author(s): Douglas C. Smith; James A. Hall
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 24 pages
• Grant Number(s): TI13354; TI11317; TI11321; TI11323; TI11324
• Sponsoring Agency: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Admin (SAMHSA)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful parenting, and clinical severity of adolescent substance abuse.

Abstract

The study found that when compared to neglectful parenting, authoritative parenting was associated with fewer parent-reported substance problems in both the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) study and Project Iowa (SCY) studies and fewer conduct disorder symptoms in the CYT study. Authoritative parenting was significantly associated with lower level of care recommendations when contrasted with authoritarian and neglectful parenting in the SCY study. Despite some methodological limitations, these findings generally support community study findings on the benefits of authoritative parenting. Additional research is recommended to both resolve discrepancies between parent and youth severity measures, and to clarify whether or not improvements in parenting practices predict substance abuse treatment outcomes. The study used participants from the CYT dataset and subset of SCY participants who completed their study eligibility assessments between February 2003 and March 2006, and whose parents had also completed a collateral assessment (n=617). Tables and references