Family support & substance abuse during puberty

Background

A high percentage of research suggests that support by the family, friends and society is related with limited occurrence of psychological symptoms. The results of studies, conducted with samples of adults, lead to the conclusion that societal support is negatively correlated with substance abuse. Also, concerning young people, parental support, which gives emphasis on emotional and material aspects is a protecting factor. Family support is a relationship of closeness and trust between children and parents. Furthermore, there is evidence that children have better coping mechanisms in terms of negative events and they confront their consequences with positive attitude, when they are emotionally supported by their parents. The benefits of emotional support develop in two forms, either by increasing the protector factors, or by reducing the risk factors.

Materials and methods

In this investigation, three case-studies (A.P.P.A.C. patients) are presented and analyzed. Subjects selected were of the same sex (male) and of the same age-group (17 years, 18 years and 22 years old).

Results

Results indicated that the interaction between the family affect directly the ways self-destructive behaviour as it could be avoided, held or prevented.

Conclusions

It seems that lack of boundaries and ambiguous roles create high levels of entropy in any family system. This increased entropy is represented by self-destructed behavior; one of them is substance abuse.