Early Deviance and Related Risk Factors in the Children of Narcotic Addicts

Abstract

This descriptive study examines the self-reported behaviors of 285 male and female adolescent children (ages 12–17) of narcotic addicts participating in methadone maintenance programs. These children responded to an extensive 2.5-hour interview questionnaire focusing on current and past activities, including criminal activities prior to age 12. The findings revealed that early deviance, assessed by self-report measures of both severity and variety, is related to current adolescent drug and alcohol use, association with deviant peers, a negative view of home atmosphere, and psychological symptomatology. These results are contrasted with the retrospective reports of adolescent behavior obtained from adult male narcotic addicts in a prior study of vulnerability to addiction. The comparability of study results is discussed in the context of developmental risk factors, prevention and treatment strategies, and other considerations specifically related to the development of children of narcotic addicts.

Notes

¹ In order to rule out the possibility of an interaction involving gender, a series of two-factor ANOVAs were conducted. The effects in the model were gender, a given adolescent characteristic or behavior (Table 1) or reported psychological symptom (Table 2), and the interaction of gender with the given characteristic or symptom. The dependent variable was either deviance variety or deviance severity. None of the interaction terms was significant. Therefore, for ease of presentation, the partial correlations, rather than the more voluminous ANOVA results, are reported. The level established for statistical significance for all tests is. 01.