An Integrated Analysis of the Contribution Made by Irrational Beliefs and Parental Interaction to Adolescent Drug Abuse

Abstract

Using commonality analysis, a method of partitioning variance into shared and unique components, this study examined the relative importance of irrational beliefs and sets of family factors in predicting adolescent substance abuse. The data revealed both mothers' and fathers' child-rearing practices and adolescents' irrational beliefs to be independent predictors. Moreover, the constellation of child-rearing practices to emerge, which was reflective of achievement pressure and conditional approval, corresponded with the subset of irrational belief dimensions of the adolescent abusers, which was suggestive of approval anxiety. The implications for clinical treatment of adolescent substance abusers and future studies incorporating different substance-abusing populations were also explored.