A Descriptive Study of African-American Mother-Child Communication about Drugs and Health*

A Descriptive Study of African-American Mother-Child Communication about Drugs and Health Parents' teaching styles and values about health shape children's health behaviors and attitudes. Parental influence is particularly salient with their children's use of illegal and addictive drugs. Children from families with open and positive communication are less likely to become involved with drugs than are children form families in which this kind of dialogue is absent (Block, Block and Keyes, 1988; Coombs, 1988). Comparisons of adolescents who use illegal drugs versus adolescents who do not document the importance of fathers who provide praise and encouragement and mothers who provide advice and guidance to drug abstaining youth (Coombs and Landsverk, 1988). While some patterns of drug use have changed for the better in the past decade, statistics on children's and adolescent's involvement with illegal and addictive drugs confirm the necessity of continuing to assess factors in the family environment which mitigate against drug use (Johnston and O'Malley, 1988; U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 1993). More information on the role of parents as related to children's health behavior and health status is especially important for low income African-American children. National health statistics over the past few decades document the serious health risks for low income African-American as compared to children from middle class families (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1992; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1993). Indicators of health problems begin before birth with higher rates of low birth weight and infant mortality for African-Americans and extend throughout childhood with elevated rates of chronic and acute diseases. African-American adolescents are often medically underserved and are more likely than their middle class peers to become pregnant during adolescence and to become involved in drug use (Office of Maternal and Child Health, 1990; Office of Technology Assessment, 1991). Although the circumstances of African-American children demand further study in order to identity ways to improve their health and well being, little attention has been given to date of the role of African - American parents teaching about health or drugs. With the exception of the three studies summarized below, research on aspects of family functioning contributing to or ameliorating against child and adolescent drug use has focused on white or Hispanic lower and middle class samples (Brook and Whiteman, 1981; Brook, Whiteman, Brook and Gordon, 1981; Coombs and Landsverk, 1988; Mercer and Kohn, 1980; Protinsky and Shilts, 1990; Sorosiak and Thomas, 1976; Stoker and Swadi, 1990). In the first study involving African-American families, inner city African-American caretakers were interviewed in the mid 1960s and again in the mid 1970s about their children's behavior in a longitudinal study of developmental trends in psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse (Kellam, Brown, Rubin and Ensminger, 1983). Children are used as the unit of analysis in reporting the results with little description of the family context provided as a potential predictor of adolescent substance abuse. Marked gender differences were observed in personality traits of shyness and aggressiveness as predictors of drug use in adolescence. A major longitudinal sample of adolescents from Los Angeles County included nine percent Black youth; race has not been separated out in the analyses of family or adolescent functioning related to drug use (Newcomb and Bentler, 1988a; Newcomb and Bentler, 1988b; Stein, Newcomb and Bentler, 1987). Another milestone longitudinal study included 25 Blacks in a sample of 105 but again family circumstances and parenting behavior potentially related to race was not treated as potential mediating factor (Block, Block and Keyes, 1988). For the sample overall in this last study, the interaction between mothers and daughters but not mothers and sons was predictive of subsequent involvement with drugs. …