PROSPECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS AMONG FAMILY FORM, FAMILY PROCESSES, AND ADOLESCENTS ALCOHOL AND DRUG-USE

The present study was designed to disentangle and define the unique co ntributions of family form and family processes to substance use and a ssociation with deviant peers among adolescents. Eighty adolescents an d their mothers participated in the study; half were from divorced sin gle-parent families and half were from families in which the parents w ere still married. Maternal assessments of interparental conflict and the quality of the mother-adolescent relationship were used to prospec tively forecast adolescent reports of substance use and affiliation wi th deviant peers one year later. The results revealed that mother-adol escent conflict predicted adolescent alcohol use, and maternal accepta nce-rejection predicted both drug use and affiliation with deviant pee rs. These findings support the hypothesis that family processes rather than family form forecast adolescents' substance use and deviant peer affiliation. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.