Family Therapy for Early Adolescent Substance Abuse (From Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment in the United States: Exemplary Models From a National Evaluation Study, P 105-131, 2003, Sally J. Stevens, Andrew R. Morral, eds., -- See NCJ-198897)

• NCJ Number: 198902
• Author(s): Cynthia Rowe; Elizabeth Parker-Sloat; Seth Schwarz; Howard Liddle
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 27 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1 KD1 TI11871; T32 DAO7297
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse; US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Sale Source: Haworth Press, Inc
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter discusses substance abuse interventions for early adolescents within a family-based treatment model.

Abstract

Early adolescence is a time of heightened vulnerability for emotional and behavior problems and substance use disorders. Multidimensional family therapy (MDFT) is currently being implemented and evaluated with young adolescent drug abusers at The Village, Inc. in Miami, Florida. The Village is a nonprofit community drug abuse treatment center that provides a wide range of drug treatment services to adolescents and adults. Therapists in MDFT work simultaneously in four domains corresponding to the most important areas of a youth’s life. These four domains are the individual adolescent, the parents and other individual family members, the family’s transactional patterns, and family members’ interactions with extra-familial systems. MDFT interventions encompass the important domains of (1) the adolescent’s developing sense of self, (2) peer relationships, and (3) relationships with parents. Drug use is most common and pervasive in young adolescents that are characterized as identity diffuse and have problems with identity development. The therapist helps the adolescent explore his or her evolving identity and hopes and dreams for the future, or “possible selves.” It is the therapist’s job to help the adolescent link these possible selves to concrete, manageable steps that they can monitor and fine-tune together. Association with drug abusing peers is a primary risk factor for drug abuse. Early adolescents are particularly susceptible to the influences of antisocial peers and crowds. In MDFT, therapists discuss these associations with adolescents to uncover the nature of these relationships and how these friends can support or interfere with the adolescent’s goals. Poor parental monitoring is perhaps the most critical family factor in the initiation of early adolescent substance abuse. The MDFT model specifies an array of interventions with parents designed to accomplish several interrelated goals, such as establishing a commitment from the parents and the adolescent to change behavior. 1 table, 61 references