Parenting affect, temperament and peer relations
Subtitle: a model for adolescent use of illicit drugs
By: by Paulo Rocha Pires.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 136
Subjects: Parental rejection.; Youth -- Drug use.; Peer pressure in adolescence.
Description: Research has indicated that parental monitoring is important in keeping adolescents from affiliating with deviant peer groups and engaging in antisocial behaviour. This study purports that the less-researched affective dimension of parenting is crucial in the development of these two outcomes. It tests a theoretical model of adolescent drug use that takes into consideration positive (warmth) and negative (rejection) affect in the parent-child relationship, as well as child impulsivity (as an index of temperament) and deviant peer affiliations, testing the hypothesis that deviant peer affiliations may mediate the other effects, and that in turn deviant peer affiliations are predicted by parenting affect, child impulsivity and peer relationship processes. Participants from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (N=2194) were examined from late childhood to late adolescence using growth curve modeling, which takes into account the effects of time-varying predictors to estimate within-individual change and between-individual variability in change over time. Multiple imputation procedures were used to handle missing data. Results indicated that parental rejection is positively associated with the frequency of drug use, and that its effects diminish over time, conversely, parental warmth is negatively associated with the frequency of drug use, and its effects augment over time. Deviant peer affiliations were associated with an increased frequency of drug use, did not have a differential influence over time, and were found not to mediate the effects of the other predictors. In a separate growth curve model, parenting affect was found to have similar effects in the prediction of affiliation with deviant peers. In addition, child impulsivity, peer acceptance and peer rejection were found to be positive predictors of deviant peer group affiliation. Taken together, the results suggest that children who feel rejected by their parents are independently at risk for two negative but related outcomes: affiliating with a deviant peer group, and drug use. Conversely, in later years, positive affect in the parent child relationship may serve to reduce the risk of both outcomes. This study provides support for targeting affective processes in the parent-child relationship through interventions like family therapy.
Notes: Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-117).