Relationships with adults as predictors of substance use, gang involvement, and threats to safety among disadvantaged urban high-school adolescents

Abstract

Using a resilience framework, the authors examined the protective effects of parental support, self-disclosure to parents, parent-initiated monitoring of adolescent behavior, and relationships with school personnel on three critical problems of adolescents: substance use, gang involvement, and perceived threats to safety at school. The sample consisted of 342 ethnically diverse high-school students in an economically disadvantaged urban area in the southwestern United States. The regression analyses controlled for academic performance, poor anger management, risk-seeking propensities, co-occurring substance use, and co-occurring gang involvement. Interactions as well as main effects were examined. The specific protective roles of all four adult relationships were identified with respect to problematic outcomes. Adolescent self-disclosure to parents, a variable rarely examined in resilience research, was associated with less chance of substance use for two high-risk groups: those already involved with gangs, and those with high risk-seeking tendencies. ©2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.