Relationships between perceived parental acceptance-rejection, psychological adjustment, and substance abuse among young adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/0145-2134(92)90052-SGet rights and content

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between perceived parental acceptance-rejection, psychological adjustment, and substance abuse. A volunteer sample of 40 young adult substance abusers was compared to a comparable volunteer sample of 40 nonabusers with respect to individuals' perceptions of paternal and maternal acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment. Discriminant function analysis using the jackknife procedure was utilized to examine the predictive power and the classification accuracy of perceived parental acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment. Results of the research show that: (a) Both perceived paternal and maternal rejection in childhood tend to be significantly higher among substance abusers than among nonabusers, and; (b) substance abusers are more impaired in their current psychological adjustment than are nonabusers. These two classes of predictor variables yield a correlation of .77 with group membership (i.e., abusers vs. nonabusers), and the three predictor variables successfully discriminate substance abusers from nonabusers with jackknifed classification accuracy of 87.5%. Adding the demographic variable “education level” to the model raises the jackknifed classification accuracy to 91.2%, yielding only seven misclassifications in the total sample of 80 volunteers.

Résumé

Cette étude examine la relation entre les sentiments de rejet et d'acceptation parentaux, de l'adaptation psychologique et de la toxicomanie. Un échantillon de 40 volontaires toxicomanes adultes a été comparé à un échantillon comparable de 40 volontaires non-toxicomanes pour les sentiments individuels de rejet et d'acceptation parentaux et de l'adaptation psychologique. L'analyse de fonction discriminante utilisant la procédure dite “jackknife” a été employée pour examiner le pouvoir de prédiction et la précision de classification du rejet et de l'acceptation parentales tels qu'ils ont été perçus et de l'adaptation psychologique. Les résultats de cette recherche montrent que: (a) le sentiment de rejet paternel et maternel au cours de l'enfance tente à être significativement plus élevé chez les toxicomanes que chez les non-toxicomanes et que (b) les toxicomanes sont psychologiquement moins adaptés que les non-toxicomanes. Ces deux classes de variables prédictives montrent une correlation de .77 avec le groupe d'appartenance (p. ex. toxicomane versus non-toxicomane) et les trois variables prédictives discriminent avec succès les toxicomanes des non-toxicomanes avec une précision de classification dite “jackknife” de 87,5%. L'addition de la variable démographique “niveau d'éducation” au modèle fait monter la précision de classification dite “jackknife” à 91.2%, ne laissant que 7 erreurs de classification sur l'échantillon total de 80 volontaires.

Resumen

Este estudio examinó la relación entre la auto-percepción de la aceptación-rechazo parental, ajuste psicológico y el abuso de substancias. Se comparó una muestra voluntaria de 40 adultos jóvenes diagnosticados dentro de la categoría de abuso de substancias y una muestra voluntaria semejante que no padecían del abuso de substancias en cuanto a las percepciones de estos sujetos de la aceptación-rechazo maternal y paternal y el ajuste psicológico. Se utilizó un análisis discriminatoriao para examinar el poder predictivo y la certeza en la clasificación de la auto-percepción de la aceptación-rechazo parental y el ajuste psicológico. Los resultados de la investigación indican que: (a) la percepción de rechazo tanto paterno como materno tiende a ser significativamente más alto en los que abusan de substancias en comparación con los que no abusan; y (b) los que abusan de substancias tienen más impedimentos en su ajuste psicológico presente que los que no abuan. Estos dos tipos de variables predictivas presentan una correlación de .77 con las condiciones de cada grupo (i.e. los que abusan versus los que no abusan), y las tres variables predictivas tienen çexito al discriminar los que abusan de los que no abusan de substancias con una certeza de 87.5%. Agregando la variable demográfica “nivel educacional” al modelo aumenta la certeza en la clasificación a 91.2% presentando solo siete clasificaciones erróneas en la suma total de los 80 voluntarios.

References (44)

  • A. Marcus et al.

    Perception of maternal behavior by elementary school children of alcoholic mothers

    The International Journal of the Addictions

    (1987)
  • R.P. Rohner et al.

    Development and validation of the personality assessment questionnaire: Test Manual

    (1978)
  • J. Segal

    Report of the Research Task Force of the National Institute of Mental Health

  • P. Baasel

    Co-dependent parents: Passing down the heritage of addictive family dynamics

    Focus on Family and Chemical Dependency

    (1986)
    P. Baasel

    Co-dependent parents: Passing down the heritage of addictive family dynamics

    Focus on Family and Chemical Dependency

    (1986)
    P. Baasel

    Co-dependent parents: Passing down the heritage of addictive family dynamics

    Focus on Family and Chemical Dependency

    (1986)
  • D.J. Baer et al.

    Heroin addict relationships with parents during childhood and early adolescent years

    Journal of Genetic Psychology

    (1974)
  • H. Barry

    Sociocultural aspects of alcohol addiction

  • H. Barry

    Psychological factors in alcoholism

  • J. Block et al.

    Longitudinally foretelling drug usage in adolescence: Early childhood personality and environmental precursors

    Child Development

    (1988)
  • G. Botvin

    Substance abuse prevention research: Recent developments and future directions

    Journal of School Health

    (1986)
  • J.S. Brook et al.

    Paternal determinants of male adolescent marijuana use

    Journal of Developmental Psychology

    (1981)
  • S. Brown

    Alcohol use and type of life events experienced during adolescence. Veterans Administration Medical Center

    Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

    (1987)
  • M.E. Burglass et al.

    The natural history of ideas in the addictions

  • T. Chien et al.

    The road to heroin: Narcotics, delinquency, and social policy

    (1964)
  • E. Coleman

    Child physical and sexual abuse among chemically dependent individuals

    Journal of Chemical Dependency Treatment

    (1987)
  • D.E. Cournoyer

    Recent evidence concerning the validity and reliability of self-reports of perceived parental acceptance-rejection and personality attributes

    (1989)
  • S.N. Hart et al.

    Psychological maltreatment of children

  • V.M. Hesselbrock et al.

    Reasons for drinking and alcohol use: Young adults at high risk and at low risk for alcoholism

    British Journal of Addiction

    (1987)
  • R. Hirsch et al.

    A family therapy approach to the treatment of drug abuse and addiction

    Journal of Psychedelic Drugs

    (1975)
  • A.B. Hollingshead

    A two factor index of social position

    (1957)
  • D.B. Kandel et al.

    Antecedents of adolescent initiation into stages of drug use: A developmental analysis

    Journal of Youth and Adolescence

    (1978)
  • S.G. Kellam et al.

    Mental health and going to school: The Woodlawn program of assessment, early intervention, and evaluation

    (1975)
  • S.G. Kellam et al.

    Paths leading to teenage psychiatric symptoms and substance use: Developmental epidemiological studies in Woodlawn

  • Cited by (59)

    • Trajectories of maternal verbal aggression across the middle school years: Associations with negative view of self and social problems

      2011, Child Abuse and Neglect
      Citation Excerpt :

      Finally, research that has employed combined samples of community and clinical subjects has largely been correlational and dependent on retrospective reports of maltreatment. Psychological maltreatment and/or VA have been linked in these studies to various undesirable outcomes that support findings of the related research cited above (see Campo & Rohner, 1992; Fleming, Jory, & Burton, 2002; Gibb & Abela, 2008; Kolko, Kazdin, & Day, 1996; Lochner et al., 2002; Magee, 1999; Spillane-Grieco, 2000). Refer to Table 1 for a review of outcomes found to be associated with psychological maltreatment/VA in the studies cited throughout this section.

    • Parenting and child development: Across ethnicity and culture

      2021, Parenting and Child Development: Across Ethnicity and Culture
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Based in part on a Ph.D. dissertation by Anthony T. Campo, supervised by Ronald P. Rohner, submitted to the University of Connecticut in partial fulfil

    View full text