Autonomy and Relatedness in Inner-City Families of Substance Abusing Adolescents

• NCJ Number: 213857
• Journal: Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: 2005 Pages: 53-86
• Author(s): Jessica Samuolis; Aaron Hogue; Sarah Dauber; Howard A. Liddle
• Date Published: 2005
• Length: 34 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined parent-adolescent autonomous-relatedness functioning in inner-city, ethnic minority families of adolescents involved in drug abuse and related problem behaviors.

Abstract

Autonomous-relatedness reflects the contemporary view that adolescent development is most positive within the context of a supportive, connected relationship with parents. The study generally confirmed the theoretical structure of the measure of autonomous-relatedness that had been found for middle-class European-American families; however, there were several significant differences from previous studies. First, for both the adolescents and the parents, two types of undermining behaviors were related to the extent that they represented a single construct, which the researchers call Undermining Autonomous-Relatedness. This encompasses behaviors that undermine positive interactions between adolescents and their parents. These behaviors include pressuring adolescents to conform to parents' expectations, cutting off conversation, and hostility. A second important aspect of the findings was the identification of four types of behaviors related to autonomous-relatedness behaviors: reasoning, confidence, validation, and engagement. Reasoning and confidence among adolescents, however, were factors that contributed to conflict with parents and an undermining interaction. Such adolescent features were related to their drug use and externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The findings point to the need for clinicians to identify and build positive parent-adolescent relationship characteristics in treating adolescent drug abuse. Study participants were 74 parent-adolescent pairs (63 male adolescents), who completed a family interaction task at the point of pretreatment assessment for a randomized clinical trial that compared family-based versus individual treatment for adolescent substance abuse. Parent-adolescent functioning was measured with the Autonomy and Relatedness Coding System, the Family Environment Scale, and the Parenting Style Questionnaire. 3 figures, 7 tables, and 99 references