Parent drug use and bonding to parents as predictors of substance use in children of substance abusers

The social development model (Catalano and Hawkins 1996) hypothesizes that strong bonds to prosocial others and institutions contribute to prosocial behavior, while strong beads to antisocial others and institutions contribute to antisocial behavior. Consistent with this perspective, previous research indicates that bonding to parents and child substance use are negatively associated for children of non-substance abusers but are negligibly or positively associated for children of substance abusers. This paper examines the interactive relationship between parent drug use, bonding to parents, and child substance use in a longitudinal study of families headed by substance abusers in methadone treatment for opiate addiction. Bonding to parents and child substance use are moderately negatively correlated in children whose parents ceased using drugs but are weakly positively correlated in children whose parents continued using drugs. These results support the social development model and suggest that family interventions for preventing substance use in children of substance abusers should focus on reducing parent drug use and promote bonding to parents who are abstinent.