Family management, relations risk and protective factors for adolescent substance abuse in South Africa

Text in EnglishAn increasingly recognised prevention approach for substance use entails reduction in risk factors and enhancement of promotive or protective factors in individuals and the environment surrounding them during their growth and development. However, in order to enhance the effectiveness of this approach, continuous study of risk aspects targeting different cultures, social groups and mixture of society has been recommended. This study evaluated the impact of potential risk and protective factors associated with family management and relations on adolescent substance abuse in South Africa. Exploratory analysis and cumulative odds ordinal logistic regression modelling was performed on the data while controlling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics on adolescent substance use. The most intensely used substances were tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, heroin and alcohol in decreasing order of use intensity. The specific protective or risk impact of family management or relations factors varied from substance to substance. Risk factors associated with demographic and socio-economic factors included being male, younger age, being in lower education grades, coloured ethnicity, adolescents from divorced parents and unemployed or fully employed mothers. Significant family relations risk and protective factors against substance use were classified as either family functioning and conflict or family bonding and support. Several family management factors, categorised as parental monitoring, discipline, behavioural control and rewards, demonstrated either risk or protective effect on adolescent substance use. Some factors had either interactive risk or protective impact on substance use or lost significance when analysed jointly with other factors such as controlled variables. Interaction amongst risk or protective factors as well as the type of substance should be considered when further considering interventions based on these risk or protective factors. Studies in other geographical regions, institutions and with better gender balance are recommended to improve upon the representativeness of the results. Several other considerations to be made when formulating interventions, the shortcomings of this study and possible improvements as well as future studies are also suggested.PsychologyM. A. (Psychology

Pathways of school engagement in preventing adolescent delinquency and subtance use

Delinquency and substance use impacts negatively on adolescent health and various facets of their individual well-being, therefore translating to negative impact on the economy of many governments irrespective of development status. There is an increasing attention on engagement due to its impact on developmental trajectories and academic success with potentially long-term consequences. Whereas many studies have investigated the impact of engagement on academic failure, limited reports explore the role of engagement in the aetiology of delinquency and health-compromising behaviours and little attention has been paid on influencers of engagement. This study explored the hypothesis that personal and contextual factors at individual and school levels may either mediate or moderate the effect of different dimensions of school engagement on delinquency and substance use. Engagement involved emotional, social and cognitive engagement. Personal factors included psychological factors namely social cognition (measured as the locus of control) and self-perception (measured as self-concept). Contextual factors included parental involvement in school activities, parental commitment to educational goals of the children, communication between parent and child, as well as supervision and monitoring of children by the parents. Trends, distribution and univariate tests of association between socio-demographic variables, substance use, delinquency, engagement and contextual factors were analysed. A total of 898 students were selected using a multistage probability sample design from selected municipalities within Gauteng province as the primary sampling unit, schools within the primary sampling units, and students within the schools. Variability due to grade level and school level factors were analysed and used as input for multilevel cumulative link mixed models assessing the influence of parental and peer factor variables on the psychosocial factors. Correlations, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and two structural equation models (SEM) were used to test the hypothesized pathways through which personal and contextual factors influence the impact of different dimensions of engagement on the occurrence of delinquency and substance use. A slight majority of the students were female (57%; n=492). The mean student was 16.7 (standard deviation = 2.6) and age was relatively symmetrical with a median age of 16 years and a majority (66.5%; n=560) distributed between the ages 15 and 18. The majority of the students were from grade 10 (33%; n=283) followed by grades 9 (15.7%; n=131), 11 (15.4%; n=128), 8 (13.3%; n=111) and 7 (13.1%; n=109) while respondents from grades 6 and 12 comprised less than 100 students. The most used substances included alcohol (31.3% of the students) followed by smoking (12.7%) and cannabis (11.3%) when compared with than the hard drugs including amphetamine, barbiturates, cocaine, heroin and other substances. Significant changes in the dependent variables (substance use and delinquency) and the psychosocial variables (social cognitions and self-perceptions) with grade level and school-level were reported (p<0.05). There were significance influences of parent and peer factors on psychosocial factors and psychosocial factors on student engagement (p<0.05). Specific facilitators and indicators of engagement classified as psychosocial factors, social cognition and self-perceptions are presented and discussed. The results indicated that besides peer and parental factors, other factors such as behavioural protection may lead to enhanced engagement and psychosocial factors could be protective against substance use. The study of the nomological network of each of the constructs using factor analysis distinguished two dimensions of delinquency, four of engagement, (emotional engagement, social or behavioural or participatory engagement, and cognitive engagement), two of parental involvement (parental monitoring and parental involvement), four of self-concept (self-perception, self-esteem, self-cognition and self-efficacy), two for social cognition (external and internal dimensions) and three for illicit substance use. The statistical significance of many of the direct and indirect effects from the SEM models confirmed the hypothesis that personal and contextual factors impact the occurrence of delinquency and substance use directly and indirectly. Partial mediation was also revealed where the effects of personal and contextual factors are partially mediated by engagement. The pathways revealed in this study involving direct, indirect effects and total effects of these assets indicate that they do not confer benefits singularly but factors such as psychosocial variables including self-concept and locus of control may act as precursors of other assets such as engagement whereas parental factors may mediate to influence peer factors. An extensive repertoire of developmental assets and liabilities including psychosocial variables and outcomes of delinquency and substance use which can be incorporated in prevention efforts are presented. These factors can be used in computing risk behaviour indices which predict the risk to support early intervention.PsychologyD. Phil. (Psychology

Family management risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use in South Africa

Abstract Background An increasingly recognised prevention approach for substance use entails a reduction in risk factors, and the enhancement of promotive, or protective factors in individuals and the environment surrounding them during their growth and development. Methods This exploratory study evaluated the effect of potential risk and protective factors associated with family management relating to adolescent substance use in South Africa. Exploratory analysis and cumulative odds ordinal logistic regression modelling was performed on the data, while controlling for the influence of demographic and socio-economic characteristics on adolescent substance use. Results The most frequently used substances were cannabis, followed by other illicit substances and alcohol in decreasing order of use intensity. The specific protective, or risk effect of family management factors, varied according to substance. Risk factors associated with demographic and socio-economic factors included being male, of a younger age, lower education grades, of a coloured ethnicity, adolescents from divorced parents, and unemployed or fully employed mothers. Several family management factors, categorised as parental monitoring, discipline, behavioural control and rewards, demonstrated either risk or protective effects on adolescent substance use. Conclusions This exploratory study demonstrated that various risk and protective factors associated with family management may affect adolescent substance use. Interaction amongst risk or protective factors, as well as the type of substance, should be considered when further considering interventions based on these risk or protective factors