Substance Use Disorder, Parenting Styles and Interpersonal Competency: A Review

Abstract

The epidemic of substance addiction among young people is increasing at an alarming rate, owing to altering cultural norms, strong competition in the sectors of school and job, mounting financial hardship on families, and eroding supportive links for children during this time of transition. As a result, many young individuals have their first encounters with drugs, particularly those that are easily accessible, such as inhalants, cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol. Scientists have defined four basic parenting styles - Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Neglectful - in this area of research and attempted to discover which style has the highest association with the onset of alcohol and drug use during adolescence and early adulthood. The evidence is more apparent from the earlier literature that the neglecting and authoritarian parenting pattern significantly linked with high risk of drug use, alcohol. On the other hand the permissive and authoritative parenting patterns related to low risk of drug and alcohol use. In this paper, article has been reviewed from various research conducted on this matter in the past with an aim to identify the gaps and raise awareness in the general population so that the onset of SUD in youngsters can be prevented with corrective measures. Another goal of this article is to identify how parenting styles are linked to the development of interpersonal competency and if it results in additional mental health issues on top of Substance Use Disorder.
 
 Received: 2 September 2023 / Accepted: 30 December 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024