Chapter 6 - An Ecological Approach to Family Intervention for Adolescent Substance Use

Abstract

The use of substances by young adolescents is associated with heightened risk for drug abuse by young adulthood, as well as multiple negative consequences, such as marital, work, and educational failures. Evidences suggest that family management practices are central to multilevel risk identified in many researches. Competent family management skills reduce negative family interactions and improve poor parent-child relationships. In particular, caregiver monitoring and supervision serve as a protective factor against associations with deviant peers, and more seriously, the influences of substance-using peers and siblings. Persistent disruption of family management is associated with children's early display of antisocial behavior. Some hypothesize that antisocial behavior in childhood provides a basis for accumulative risk associated with peer rejection, poor academic skills, and eventual involvement in a deviant peer group. The role of parenting practices in protecting youth from contextual risks suggests family centered interventions as a promising prevention target. Intervention outcome literature provides a strong rationale for family-centered interventions. Family based intervention strategies are effective in reducing the antecedents for adolescent substance use and other problem behavior. They also reduce early oppositional problems in the preschool years and problem behavior and substance use in early adolescence.