Training in Effective Parenting Skills Helps Parents Struggling with a Teen-ager's Substance Abuse

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) have shown that families exhibit improvements in overall functioning, and in some cases reduced adolescent substance use, when parents receive help and support in coping with their child's substance-abuse problem.

Results from a study involving parents from 22 families showed that parents of teen-age children who participated in a training program focusing on effective parent coping skills reported improved handling of problems encountered with their teen, suggesting real-world improvement in how parents cope with their teen's substance use.

The parents also reported reduced depression, anxiety and anger, and fewer communication problems with their teen.

They also reported reductions in their child's marijuana use.

"Although these preliminary results are encouraging, they are not definitive," said Neil B. McGillicuddy, Ph.D., RIA research scientist and principal investigator on the study. The $2.5 million project to examine interventions for parents of substance-abusing teens is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"We have more work ahead of us. However, our initial results suggest that parents need not give up; there are things parents can do which offer hope," he added.

McGillicuddy developed the training program -- the primary focus of which is reducing the distress of parents living with a substance-abusing teen -- in collaboration with Robert G. Rychtarik, Ph.D., RIA senior research scientist, co-principal investigator on the study and UB research associate professor of psychology and psychiatry. Their premise was that if the parents were taught effective coping skills, and if their distress was lowered, then the teen's substance use might also be reduced.

"Many people believe that parents are at fault for a teen-ager's substance abuse," said McGillicuddy. "For instance, some people may think that poor communication or family arguments may cause teen substance use."

"But consider the alternative. It could be that some of these conditions, such as the poor communication or family arguments result from the teen's use of drugs or alcohol. It also is likely that the teen's substance use is contributing to other negative consequences for the parent and the rest of the family."

"Often, parents and their adolescent get into a vicious cycle of teen substance use, followed by ineffective parental efforts to stop it, followed by more teen substance use and so on," McGillicuddy noted. "Parents feel increasingly depressed, anxious and angry at both the adolescent and themselves. Sometimes, this leads some parents to give up trying to do anything. Our research suggests and encourages parents to not give up."

McGillicuddy and Rychtarik are conducting a full-scale, follow-up study that involves comparing the skill-training intervention to another commonly employed treatment: a 12-step program. In addition to surveying parents immediately preceding and following their participation in the 12-week "Parents of Teens Program," assessments are conducted for one year to determine the long-term impact of the programs on the family.

"At the end of this study, we hope to know more about how parents of substance-abusing teens can change their own and their family's well-being," McGillicuddy added.