Parenting styles and emerging adult drug use in Cebu, the Philippines

ABSTRACT

Parenting style is a potent and malleable influence on emerging adult substance use. Most of the parenting-substance use literature has been conducted in Western populations and it is unknown whether findings are generalizable to other cultures and contexts. We extended the parenting-substance use literature to a cohort of emerging adults in the Philippines using the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. We assessed associations between mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, and neglectful) reported by offspring at age 18 and odds of offspring-reported drug use three years later, adjusted for a range of offspring- and parent/household-level characteristics. Females were dropped from analyses due to low prevalence of drug users. We found that many emerging adults in Cebu reported having used drugs, particularly methamphetamine—a dangerous drug with high abuse potential. Authoritative (warm, firm) mothering was significantly associated with sons’ reduced odds of drug use and neglectful fathering was related at a trend level with sons’ increased odds of having tried drugs. Findings underscore the relation of parenting styles to emerging adults’ drug use and add to the literature on cross-cultural variability in parenting styles.

KEYWORDS:

• family
• Southeast Asia
• adolescent
• culture
• mental health
• substance use

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the contributions of Dr. Socorro Gultiano and the rest of the CLHNS team for their input and for granting us use of the CLHNS data set.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding and Grant-Awarding Bodies Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health under grants #5T32MH014592-33 and #5T32MH093310-02. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Rebecca S. Hock is a Research Fellow in the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Michelle J. Hindin is a Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Judith K. Bass is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Pamela J. Surkan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Catherine P. Bradshaw is a Professor and the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Tamar Mendelson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.