Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between family structure and teen substance use.

Compared to peers living in homes in which both parents were present, teens living in families with mothers and stepfathers, fathers and stepmothers, mothers only, fathers only, or other relatives only (but not those in families with both parents and other relatives or those in families with mothers and other relatives) were more likely to have used illicit drugs other than marijuana in the past 12 months, adjusting for the effects of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and family income.

Sample or Data Description
Data came from the pooled 1991-1993 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse (NHSDA), a nationally representative survey of individuals in America, aged 12 and older. The analytical sample consisted of 22,237 respondents between the ages of 12 and 17. Because the NHSDA principally surveyed the prevalence of drug use, it does not contain information on parent-child relations, household economic resources beyond family income, changes in respondents’ family structures, or community-/school-level influences.

Source
"A National Portrait of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use"
Hoffman, John P.
Johnson, Robert A.
Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 60, Number 3. August, 1998. Page(s) 633-645.

FindingID: 8974