Effects of family relationships quality on drug use: Mediating effects of moral conviction

Abstract

s / Drug and Alcohol Dependence 146 (2015) e202–e284 e259 confidence to employ each strategy listed on the scale might serve as a form of education by informing users of strategies of which they are otherwise unaware. Financial support: None. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.09.169 Effects of family relationships quality on drug use: Mediating effects of moral conviction Alexandra N. Davis, Gustavo Carlo, Cara Streit University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States Aims: Previous research demonstrates the importance of both family relationships and moral development in predicting substance use. The present study will extend this literature by examining the mediating role of moral conviction (i.e., strength of moral motivation) in the associations between parent and sibling relationship positivity and substance use outcomes (i.e., tobacco use, alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use). We hypothesized that family positivity would be positively associated with moral conviction, and that moral conviction would be negatively associated with substance use. Methods: Participants were 303 college students (M age=18.71; 62.7% female). Participants completed measures of mother, father, and sibling positivity, their moral convictions regarding substance use, and their frequency of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and binge drinking in the past year. Results: Structural path analysis was conducted to examine the relations among the study variables. The model displayed acceptable fit ( 2 =2.74; CFI = .98; RMSEA= .08). The results demonstrated that sibling positivity was positively associated withmoral conviction, which in turn, was negatively associated with the substance use. Parental positivity was also directly associated with substance use. These results provide support for partial mediation of moral conviction in the associations between relationship quality and substance use. Future analyses will examine potential gender differences. Conclusions: The findings address important gaps in the literature by demonstrating the importance of both parent and sibling relationship quality on substance use, as well as examining the strength of adolescents’ convictions in accounting for college students’ substance use. The discussion will focus on the influence of both family relationshipquality andmoral convictions inpredicting substance use outcomes. Financial support: Mizzou Advantage Grant from the University of Missouri. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.09.170 Crack cocaine use and perceived life chances Jeffrey Davis, Dennis G. Fisher, Grace L. Reynolds, Lucy Napper, Stephanie A. Meyers Center for Behavioral Research and Services, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach,