Adolescent onset of substance abuse: A comparison of abusing and nonabusing siblings

Understanding how significant factors lead teenagers to abuse drugs and alcohol is an essential first step in the prevention of adolescent substance abuse. Many studies focus on different risk factors, but few studies take a multi-theory approach by assessing the differential contributions of various risk factors. There is much documentation of the lack of research on siblings in the area of adolescent substance abuse. Theorists have hypothesized about the main differences between abusing and nonabusing siblings but the empirical data comparing abusing and nonabusing siblings is scarce. This study uses a multi-theory approach to adolescent substance abuse by comparing individuals who abused drugs and alcohol in adolescence to their biological siblings who never abused drugs or alcohol. The goals of this study were to explore differences between siblings and also to determine the differential contribution of risk factors in a group which is controlled for by genetics and environment. This study focused on the risk factors of personality, family structure, parental behaviors and peer characteristics.; Pairs of same sex siblings were recruited, in cases where one sibling had abused drugs and alcohol during adolescence, and the other did not. Thirty pairs of female siblings and 29 pairs of male siblings participated in this study. Subjects completed questions which assessed personality characteristics (Jackson Personality Research Form E), family structure (FACES II), parental behaviors (Perceived Parenting Questionnaire), and peer characteristics (Jessor's Environment Scale). Subjects with high levels of social desirability were removed from assessment (Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability). Drug and alcohol use patterns and demographics were assessed through Drug, Alcohol use and the Family.; T-tests were conducted using Modified Bonferonni correction to determine alpha level. In the personality realm, substance abusing subjects were found to be more autonomous, playful, and impulsive than their nonabusing siblings. Nonabusing siblings were found to be more harmavoidant than their substance abusing siblings. No differences were found in perception of family structure. In the area of parental behaviors, substance abusing subjects rated their parents as using more affective punishment than their nonabusing siblings. In the peer characteristics area, substance abusing siblings rate their peers as approving of and modeling more drug and alcohol use.; A logistic regression was conducted using the significant variables from the t-tests to determine which factors account for most variance between the two groups. Impulsivity, friends model of behavior, and parental affective punishment were found to account for the most variance between the two groups.; A model of adolescent substance abuse risk factors contribution is presented to explain the results of this study. These results have implications for the prevention of adolescent substance abuse, and suggest that improvement of parental-adolescent communication could reduce the risk of substance abuse.