Family factors and adolescent substance use: models and mechanisms |
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Authors: | Thomas Ashby Wills Alison M. Yaeger |
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Affiliation: | Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York (T.A.W.), and Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center, Santa Rosa, California (A.M.Y.) |
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Abstract: | This article considers the relation of family factors to adolescent substance use, with a focus on the specific pathways by which family factors have their effects. We review findings on four types of variables (family substance use, parental support and monitoring, parent-child conflict, and family life events) and discuss theoretical models of how family risk and protective factors are related to adolescents' outcomes. The evidence favors a transactional model in which family factors have largely mediated effects on adolescent substance use through relations to adolescents' self-control, life events, and peer affiliations; interactions between variables are also prominent. We discuss the implications of mediated effects for theoretical models of human development and consider how the transactional approach opens avenues for preventive intervention. |
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Keywords: | family factors substance use adolescents self-control mediation |
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