Satisfaction of parents with their conduct-disordered and substance-abusing youth.
Parent approval is lowest when younger teens use drugs and break school rules—fix those first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Olsson et al. (2001) mailed a short survey to parents of teens in drug treatment. The teens also had behavior problems like skipping school or fighting.
Parents ticked boxes about how happy they were with school, therapy, and police help. The team then looked at what made scores drop.
What they found
Moms and dads of younger teens (around 12-14) gave the lowest marks. Big complaints were drug use, school trouble, and feeling the teen "does not listen."
When these three issues were present, satisfaction fell sharply. Other problems like mood or money stress mattered less.
How this fits with other research
Marchal et al. (2017) also saw younger age as the tough spot. Fathers of 11-13-year-olds with Down syndrome asked for help more often, matching the dip B et al. found.
Titlestad et al. (2019) flipped the mood. After teens with autism joined a social-skills club, parent stress about mood and isolation went down. This shows satisfaction can rise when you give the teen a clear skill plan.
Bitsika et al. (2017) used hair cortisol, not surveys, and found only self-injury spiked parent stress. Drug use did not top the list for autism parents, pointing to diagnosis-specific hot buttons.
Why it matters
If you serve families of teens with drugs plus conduct issues, expect the most push-back when the teen is in middle school. Open the first meeting by asking about drug use, school discipline, and listening skills. Tackle those first and satisfaction usually climbs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examined parental satisfaction (using the Parent Satisfaction With Youth Scale) in 132 parents of adolescents who were dually diagnosed with conduct disorder/oppositional defiant disorder and drug abuse/dependence. Results indicated parental satisfaction did not vary as a function of age, ethnic minority status, or gender. Parents of younger youth were generally more dissatisfied than parents of older adolescents although younger youth were no more delinquent than older youth. These results suggest that parents of delinquent youth become tolerant of their children's behavior problems with time. As expected, parents were most dissatisfied with their youth's use of drugs, illicit behavior, school performance, and response to discipline. Parents who endorsed lower levels of satisfaction reported their youth engaged in more pronounced levels of problem behavior and more drug use than did parents who were relatively more satisfied with their youth. Study implications and future directions are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2001 · doi:10.1177/0145445501251002