Purpose

Research consistently connects parental and youth substance misuse, yet less is known about the mechanisms driving this association among justice-involved youth. We examine whether harsh parenting is an explanatory mechanism for the association between parental substance use and parental mental health and youth substance use disorder in a sample of justice-involved youth.

Methods

Data were drawn from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, a large-scale longitudinal survey of mental health and substance misuse in a representative sample of youth in juvenile detention. Harsh parenting, child maltreatment, youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder, and parental substance misuse and mental health were assessed among 1,825 detained youth (35.95% female) at baseline, three-year follow-up, and four-year follow-up.

Results

At baseline, over 80% of youth used alcohol and/or cannabis; at the four-year follow-up, 16.35% and 19.69% of the youth were diagnosed with alcohol and cannabis use disorder, respectively. More than 20% of youth reported their parent misused substances and 6.11% reported a parent had a severe mental health need. Black youth experienced significantly fewer types of harsh parenting compared to White youth. Multivariate path analyses revealed harsh parenting mediated the association between parental substance misuse and mental health on youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder. Harsh parenting that does not rise to the level of child maltreatment mediated the association between parental substance misuse and mental health on youth alcohol use disorder; in contrast, child maltreatment did not mediate these associations. Multigroup analyses revealed the effect of harsh parenting on youth alcohol and cannabis use disorder did not vary across sex or race-ethnic subgroups.

Conclusions

Harsh parenting represents one mechanism for the intergenerational continuity of alcohol and cannabis misuse and should be regularly assessed for and addressed in juvenile justice settings.

中文翻译：

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家庭中的一切：涉及少年司法的青年中的父母物质滥用、严厉教养和青年物质滥用

目的

研究始终将父母和青少年物质滥用联系起来，但对推动涉及司法的青少年之间这种联系的机制知之甚少。我们研究了在涉及正义的青年样本中，严厉的养育是否是父母物质使用与父母心理健康和青少年物质使用障碍之间关联的解释机制。

方法

数据来自西北青少年项目，这是一项针对青少年拘留所青年代表性样本的心理健康和药物滥用的大规模纵向调查。在基线、三年随访和四年随访中，对 1,825 名被拘留青年（35.95% 为女性）进行了严厉的养育、虐待儿童、青少年酒精和大麻使用障碍、父母物质滥用和心理健康评估。

结果

在基线时，超过 80% 的青少年使用酒精和/或大麻；在四年的随访中，分别有 16.35% 和 19.69% 的青少年被诊断患有酒精和大麻使用障碍。超过 20% 的青少年报告他们的父母滥用药物，6.11% 的青少年报告父母有严重的心理健康需求。与白人青年相比，黑人青年经历的严厉教养类型要少得多。多变量路径分析显示，严厉的养育方式介导了父母物质滥用与青少年酒精和大麻使用障碍的心理健康之间的关联。未上升到虐待儿童程度的严厉教养介导了父母物质滥用与青少年酒精使用障碍心理健康之间的关联；相比之下，虐待儿童并没有调解这些关联。

结论

苛刻的养育是酒精和大麻滥用代际连续性的一种机制，应在少年司法环境中定期评估和解决。