Measuring adolescents' perceptions of environmental support and risk factors for substance abuse

The purpose of this project was to contribute to the understanding of the factors surrounding adolescent alcohol and other drug abuse through identifying aspects of environmental (social network) support (primarily involving parental behavior) and risk indicators of substance abuse. The findings from the literature reviewed for this project suggested that parent's involvement in providing structure and support, combined with the reinforcement of alternative (non-substance related) behavior may be important protective factors meriting further study in the search for effective elements in the early intervention of substance abuse.; An instrument was developed to measure environmental support through determining adolescents' perceptions of risk factors and protective factors. An integral part of this inventory was measuring the content and consistency of parental behavior toward substance abuse. The Measure of Adolescent Perceptions of Environmental Support regarding Substance Use (MAP) was presented as an inventory to discern the perceptions of the adolescent regarding environmental support (especially the behavior of the parent) and risk factors relating to substance use.; In a cross-sectional sample, 95 students (46 female and 49 male) were recruited for the study; their ages ranged from 13-18 with an average age of 15 years. To ensure an adequate cross-section of this population (regarding substance involvement), 55 of the subjects were recruited from the general population (health classes), and 40 were recruited for their substance involvement (recently referred to substance abuse treatment programs).; Principal Components Analysis was used to narrow the list of items, then Factor Analysis was used to determine relationships among factors. Three protective factors related to parenting style emerged from the results of factor analysis: Relationship Strength, Coping Skills Facilitation, and Reinforcement of Alternative (non-substance related) Behavior. These had statistically significant, inverse correlations with substance use variables (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.05). Risk indicators included Parent Permissiveness and Family Conflict; these items correlated positively with substance use (p {dollar}<{dollar} 0.05).; Regarding internal consistency, this inventory yielded a Standardized Item Alpha Reliability Coefficient of 0.8754. Eigenvalues for the categories ranged from 2.29 to 3.54. The data from this exploratory investigation suggested that the MAP has utility as a measure of parenting styles that influence adolescents' substance abuse, including factors shown to be related to both protection and risk for substance abuse.