PARENTAL AND FAMILY RISK-FACTORS FOR SUBSTANCE USE IN INNER-CITY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a multidimensional m odel of parental and family influences on risk for substance use in in ner-city African-American primary grade children and their adolescent siblings. The risk factors investigated were conceptually grouped into three broad domains of family influences and the respective indices c omputed: parental risk attributes, family risk attributes, and parenti ng styles. Parenting styles were captured as indicators of a latent co nstruct, ''poor parenting.'' In study 1, we hypothesized that the pare ntal and family risk variables would be mediated through parenting sty les to predict intentions to use drugs, actual drug use, positive drug attitudes, and negative drug attitudes in a sample of 455 inner-city African-American families and their primary-grade children. In study 2 , the substance use risk model was tested on a sample of 59 adolescent siblings to determine whether the pattern of parental and family fact ors that contributed to early high-risk attitudes and behaviors in chi ldren would predict drug attitudes and behaviors in teen siblings. The results confirmed our expectations that parental and family risks wer e important predictors of childrens' negative drug attitudes and inten tions to use drugs in the future and that positive parental and family characteristics would protect against future risk by enhancing negati ve drug attitudes. Also, substance use attitudes and behaviors in the teen siblings were predicted primarily by family risk characteristics. The family risk index also predicted frequency of use of hard drugs, but only when mediated through poor parenting. The implications of the se results for future research are discussed.