Citation

Clark DB, Thatcher DL, Maisto SA. Child Maltreat. 2004; 9(4): 357-370.

Affiliation

University of Pittsburgh, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559504269533

PMID

15538035

Abstract

Parental responsibilities to adolescents include supervision and emotional support, and variations in these parenting behaviors have been demonstrated to influence adolescent alcohol involvement. This study developed a scale-based method for identifying adolescents with low-parent involvement and examined effects on the development and course of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The participants were 361 adolescents (ages 14 to 17 years) from two-parent families recruited from clinical and community sources. Cluster analysis of questionnaire items describing mother and father involvement identified 75 adolescents with low-parent involvement (i.e., Neglect). Compared with reference adolescents, Neglect adolescents were significantly more likely to be influenced by social pressure to drink alcohol. Among community participants, Neglect adolescents were more likely to develop AUDs. Among adolescents receiving treatment for AUDs, those in the Neglect group showed more improvement during a 1-year follow-up period. The results indicate that inadequate parent involvement may be a form of neglect.

Language: en