Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:484-489
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Life events of adolescents in relation to personal and parental substance abuse
SA Brown
San Diego VA Medical Center, La Jolla, CA.
The author examined the life events reported by 138 adolescents in relation
to their own and their parents' alcohol and/or drug use. The 62 adolescents
who were substance abusers reported more negative events involving deviance
and emotional distress and evaluated the life events they experienced as
less desirable than did the 76 nonabusing adolescents. Substance-abusing
adolescents and the 31 nonabusing adolescents with substance-abusing
parents experienced comparable numbers of stressful life experiences;
however, the type and qualitative features of the events differed.
Adolescents with substance abuse in only one family generation experienced
more emotional distress than those with substance use patterns consistent
across generations.
