Perceived parental support and adolescent motivation for substance use change: a preliminary investigation

Abstract

Background: The benefits of motivation to change may be enhanced depending on environmental factors, such as perceived parental support.

Objective: We propose a quadrant model of perceived parental support and adolescent motivation with the following four possibilities: High perceived parent support/Low adolescent motivation; High perceived parent support/High adolescent motivation; Low perceived parent support/Low adolescent motivation; Low perceived parent support/High adolescent motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of each quadrant within a randomized clinical trial of adolescent substance use treatment.

Method: Data for these analyzes were from the DATOS-A study. We used chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests to examine differences between the four quadrants on demographic factors, treatment engagement, and substance use treatment outcomes.

Results: We found that participants in Quadrant 2 (high perceived parent support/high adolescent motivation) were the most likely to report that treatment was important (x² = 34.34 (6), p < .001), and participants in Quadrant 3 (low perceived parent support/low adolescent motivation) reported the worst substance use outcomes across a variety of variables. In particular, adolescents in Quadrant 3 reported the most days of alcohol use in the previous month (F(3, 248.46) = 9.99, p < .001), which was nearly double that of adolescents within Quadrant 2.

Conclusions: We found preliminary support of our conceptualization of perceived parental support and adolescent motivation, as adolescents in Quadrant 2 had higher treatment importance, and adolescents in Quadrant 3 reported the most severe substance use outcomes.

Keywords:

• Parent
• adolescent
• motivation
• motivational interviewing
• substance use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We use the word ‘parent’ to encompass all adults who provide a caregiving role, including, but not limited to, biological parents, step-parents, adopted parents, legal guardians, etc.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (U01-DA10377 and N01DA-9-8233) and T32 AA007455. The funding sources had no other role than financial support.