NCJ Number
207753
Journal
Child Maltreatment Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2004 Pages: 357-370
Date Published
November 2004
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effects of parental involvement on alcohol use disorders (AUD) among adolescents.
Abstract
AUD’s are one of the most prevalent problems in adolescence. Previous research has established a relationship between parental supervision, emotional support, and alcohol involvement in adolescence. The current study examined the effects of low parental involvement on the development of AUD’s in adolescents aged 14 to 17 years from 2-parent households. Participants were 361 adolescents recruited from clinical and community settings who completed the Loeber Youth Questionnaire, Family Assessment Measure, and alcohol and drug assessment measures. Cluster analyses of the parental involvement scales identified 75 adolescents with low parental involvement. These “neglect” adolescents were more likely to be influenced by peer pressure to drink alcohol and were more likely to develop AUD’s. At the 1-year follow-up, “neglect” adolescents who received treatment for AUD’s showed more improvement than did non-neglected adolescents in treatment for AUD’s. The findings suggest that low parental involvement may be considered a form of neglect. Practitioners should be aware of the increased probability of problematically low levels of parental involvement among adolescents with alcohol problems. Tables, appendix, references