Family Competence and Tobacco and Alcohol Consumption in Adolescents

Introduction: Family dynamics as well as personal factors could play as boosters or inhibitors of drug consumption in adolescents. The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) 6-11 is oriented towards the reduction of risk factors and the development of protection factors in the family context.

Family Competence Program 7-12 (PCF) is the adaptation and validation of the SFP 6-11 for Spain (selective prevention). It has been implemented in 29 applications between 2009 and 2011, in social services in Spain, with a follow-up 24 months later.

Objectives: 1) to analyze the relationship between family factors –performance, communication, resilience- with consumption and attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol in adolescents; 2) to analyze the importance of four mediator factors –interpersonal relationships, depression symptoms, stress and sense of incapacity- with consumption and attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol in adolescents.

Method: 24-month follow-up study with a sample of 109 families at risk (92 at the experimental group and 17 at the control group). Quasi-experimental design. Instruments are Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), Questionnaire of drug attitudes and consumption (CAD, acronym in Spanish), and the Karol Kumpfer’s questionnaires for parents and children. Both BASC, CAD and Kumpfer’s questionnaires have been validated for the Spanish population. To determine the relation level among variables, the linear regression analysis is used. Also, in order to contrast an explanation model, a structural equation model is calculated (with WLS estimation).

Results: Model results demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between the improvement of family factors and the lowest levels of consumption. As well, there is a positive relationship with the avoidance attitudes towards tobacco and alcohol. This relationship is mediated by personal factors. The improvement of family performance is related, indirectly, with favorable attitudes towards alcohol and tobacco consumption through the improvement of interpersonal relationships (β = 0.131, p < 0.001). The model also demonstrates an inhibition relationship of consumption attitudes with the reduction of depression symptoms (β = 0.142, p < 0.001) and the reduction of the sense of incapacity (β = 0.092, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The improvement of family competence and personal factors in adolescents demonstrate a significant relationship with the most positive attitudes. The improvement of family competence just produces significant effects over the adolescent attitudes when it is associated with an improvement of personal factors in adolescents.