By KATHLEEN
WEAVER
Reporter Contributor
Researchers at UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) have shown
that families exhibit improvements in overall functioning, and in some
cases reduced adolescent substance use, when parents receive help and
support in coping with their child's substance-abuse problem.
Results from a study involving parents from 22 families showed that
parents of teenage children who participated in a training program focusing
on effective parent coping skills reported improved handling of problems
encountered with their teen, suggesting real-world improvement in how
parents cope with their teen's substance use.
The parents also reported reduced depression, anxiety and anger, and
fewer communication problems with their teen.
They also reported reductions in their child's marijuana use.
"Although these preliminary results are encouraging, they are not
definitive," said Neil B. McGillicuddy, RIA research scientist and principal
investigator on the study. The $2.5 million project to examine interventions
for parents of substance-abusing teens is funded by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse.
"We have more work ahead of us. However, our initial results suggest
that parents need not give up; there are things parents can do which
offer hope," he added.
McGillicuddy developed the training programthe primary focus of which
is reducing the distress of parents living with a substance-abusing
teenin collaboration with Robert G. Rychtarik, RIA senior research
scientist, co-principal investigator on the study and UB research associate
professor of psychology and psychiatry. Their premise was that if the
parents were taught effective coping skills and if their distress was
lowered, then the teen's substance use also might be reduced.
"Many people believe that parents are at fault for a teenager's substance
abuse," said McGillicuddy. "For instance, some people may think that
poor communication or family arguments may cause teen substance use."
"But consider the alternative. It could be that some of these conditions,
such as the poor communication or family arguments, result from the
teen's use of drugs or alcohol. It also is likely that the teen's substance
use is contributing to other negative consequences for the parent and
the rest of the family."
"Often, parents and their adolescent get into a vicious cycle of teen
substance use, followed by ineffective parental efforts to stop it,
followed by more teen substance use and so on," McGillicuddy noted.
"Parents feel increasingly depressed, anxious and angry at both the
adolescent and themselves. Sometimes, this leads some parents to give
up trying to do anything. Our research suggests and encourages parents
to not give up."
McGillicuddy and Rychtarik are conducting a full-scale, follow-up
study that involves comparing the skill-training intervention to a 12-step
program, another commonly employed treatment. In addition to surveying
parents immediately preceding and following their participation in the
12-week "Parents of Teens Program," assessments are conducted for one
year to determine the long-term impact of the programs on the family.
"At the end of this study, we hope to know more about how parents
of substance-abusing teens can change their own and their family's well-being,"
McGillicuddy added.