The importance of family factors to protect against substance use related problems among Mexican heritage and White youth.
BACKGROUND
This study examined the ability of family cohesion, parental control, and parent-child attachment to prevent adolescents with a history of drug or alcohol use from experiencing subsequent problems related to their use.


METHODS
Data came from Wave I and Wave II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and included Mexican heritage and White adolescents who reported alcohol use (n = 4894, 25% prevalence) or any other drug use (n = 2875, 14% prevalence) in their lifetime.


RESULTS
Logistic regression results indicate greater parent-child attachment predicted lower risk of experiencing drug use problems (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.77-0.98) while stronger family cohesion predicted lower odds of experiencing drug- (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.70-0.97) or alcohol-related (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.65-0.84) problems. Parental control was also negatively associated with odds of problems related to drug use (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.86-0.99) or alcohol use (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.90-0.99). Results also indicated family cohesion was the only protective factor for Mexican heritage youth while family cohesion and parent-child attachment were protective among White youth. Parental control protected White female adolescents from drug use problems more than males. Mexican heritage male adolescents experienced more protection from drug problems compared to females.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings highlight the need for prevention interventions to emphasize parent-child attachment for White youth and family cohesion for both Mexican-heritage and White youth to decrease adolescent substance users' drug- and alcohol-related problems.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Belk 106, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA. amkopak@wcu.edu
Albert M
AM
Kopak
Angela Chia-Chen
AC
Chen
Steven A
SA
Haas
Mary Rogers
MR
Gillmore
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*