Differential Effects of Parental “drug talk” Styles and Family Communication Environments on Adolescent Substance Use

ABSTRACT

The current study examines the relationships among adolescent reports of parent–adolescent drug talk styles, family communication environments (e.g., expressiveness, structural traditionalism, and conflict avoidance), and adolescent substance use. ANCOVAs revealed that the 9th grade adolescents (N = 718) engaged in four styles of “drug talks” with parents (e.g., situated direct, ongoing direct, situated indirect, and ongoing indirect style) and these styles differed in their effect on adolescent substance use. Multiple regression analyses showed that expressiveness and structural traditionalism were negatively related to adolescent substance use, whereas conflict avoidance was positively associated with substance use. When controlling for family communication environments and gender, adolescents with an ongoing indirect style reported the lowest use of substance. The findings suggest implications and future directions for theory and practice.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to The Pennsylvania State University (Michael Hecht, Principal Investigator) [grant number R01DA021670]. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.