Drug Use With Parents as a Relational Strategy for Incarcerated Female Adolescents

Problems associated with poor quality parent-child relationships are compounded for incarcerated girls. Using attachment theory as a framework, the present qualitative study examined how 18 incarcerated adolescent girls made meaning with regard to their parents' drug use. We found that 8 of the 18 girls used drugs with their parents as a relational strategy to be close with them, particularly with their fathers, or as a means to share time together. The unique finding that girls used drugs together with their parents supports the need for relational parenting interventions that, whenever possible, support, encourage, and provide treatment and family strengthening services to parents who use drugs and their children. Key Words: adolescent substance use, at-risk families, incarceration, parent-adolescent relationships, parenting. Over the span of the past several decades, rates of female incarceration have steadily increased (Stahl, 2008a). Much of this increase is because of elevated rates of substance use. From 1995 to 2004, girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system for drug-related offenses increased by 64% (Stahl, 2008b). A survey of juvenile detainees in 2000 found that about 40% of girls tested positive for drug use at the time of their arrest (National Institute of Justice, 2003). Faced with this growing problem, researchers have attempted to identify the interpersonal processes underlying girls' substance use and criminal behavior. We theorize that an understanding of girls' interpersonal relationships, particularly the parentchild relationship, provides an important clue for understanding the etiology of girls' problem behaviors (e.g., Heaven, Newbury, & Mak, 2004; Huebner & Betts, 2002). Research indicates mat interpersonal relationships are more important for girls than for boys and mat girls suffer more psychological consequences when these relationships are compromised (Blyth & Trager, 1988). The purpose of the present study was to examine how incarcerated girls made meaning with regard to their parents' drug use, how their knowledge of and experience with parental drug use shaped their connections with their parents, and how their perceptions regarding their parents' use fit into their own drug use. The parent-child relationship is important for adolescent development because parents are responsible not only for loving and nurturing their child but also for teaching and modeling prosocial coping and social skills, as well as monitoring behaviors. A failure to live up to these parental responsibilities places children at risk for developing a number of internalizing and externalizing problems (Heaven et al., 2004; Huebner & Betts, 2002). Specifically, poor quality parent-child relationships characterized by abuse, neglect, conflict, parental punitiveness, or love withdrawal have emerged as primary explanations of girls' criminal behaviors and substance use (Heaven et al.). These problems are more prevalent for incarcerated girls because their families are frequently characterized by greater dysfunction than for incarcerated boys (McCabe, Lansing, Garland, & Hough, 2002). Indeed, research reveals that a lack of emotional closeness or bonding with parents predicts female delinquency and substance use (Barnes & Farrell, 1992; Huebner & Betts). Parental Substance Use as Risk Parental substance use, in particular, can compromise the quality of the parent-child relationship. However, it is important to emphasize that parents who use drugs often have multiple sources of stress, including low socioeconomic status, inadequate housing, and few stable social resources and supports (Suchman, McMahon, Slade, & Luthar, 2005). Additionally, many of these parents have other mental health issues such as depression and personality disorders (Grella, 1997). The combination of economic need, compromised social support systems, in conjunction with mental health and substance abuse problems interact to compromise parents' ability to effectively parent their children (see Suchman et al. …