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Parental styles and drug use: A review

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 Drugs: education, prevention and policy, February 2012; 19(1): 1–10
Copyright ß 2011 Informa UK Ltd.
ISSN: 0968-7637 print/1465-3370 online
DOI: 10.3109/09687637.2011.631060
Parental styles and drug use: A review
Elisardo Becoña1, Úrsula Martı́nez1, Amador Calafat2, Montse Juan2,
José Ramón Fernández-Hermida3, & Roberto Secades-Villa3
1
Deparment of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus sur,
Santiago de Compostela 15782, Spain, 2IREFREA, Rambla, 15, 2, Palma de Mallorca 07003, Spain, and
3
Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Plaza de Feijoó, Oviedo 33003, Spain
Drugs Edu Prev Pol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nicole Harpole on 03/12/12
The family plays a fundamental role in the preven-
tion and treatment of substance use. Parental styles
are among the family variables most widely studied.
This review covers the studies published in the last
30 years on the relationship between parental styles
and their offspring’s drug use. Research indicates
that the authoritative style is the most protective
against substance use, whilst the neglectful style
would increase the risk of drug use; research on the
For personal use only.
authoritarian and permissive styles is as yet incon-
clusive. We discuss the need to take into account
other family variables in addition to parental style,
such as parents’ drug use, emotional support and
warmth, family structure and the influence of
culture.
INTRODUCTION
Today, we are well aware that the family is a key
component in the development of individuals, as it
constitutes the first element of socialization for human
beings (Maccoby, 1992). In this process, one of the
most relevant aspects is the rearing style parents use
with their children, that is, the way they bring them up,
apply norms and exercise authority over them, which
can range from the extreme of maximum control to the
other extreme of total tolerance and freedom.
Baldwin (1948) is considered the first author to
identify a relationship between parents’ upbringing
style and the subsequent behaviour of their offspring.
He described three behaviour patterns in parents:
Authoritative, indulgent and accepting. Later,
Schaefer (1959) introduced the term ‘parental styles’
and proposed a model made up of two continuous
dimensions: Disciplinary control and affective warmth.
The combination of these dimensions yielded four
Correspondence: E. Becoña, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela,
Campus sur, Santiago de Compostela 15782, Spain. Tel: 34 881 813729. Fax: 34 881 813900. E-mail: elisardo.becona@usc.es
1
types of parental styles: Authoritative (high warmth
and low control), overprotective (high warmth and high
control), authoritarian (affective coldness and high
control) and neglecting (affective coldness and low
control). Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957) carried out
a detailed analysis of the rearing patterns of 379
mothers, concluding that maternal affective warmth
influences some behaviours in their children, such as
healthy eating, toilet training and the acquisition of
good hygiene habits. But the figure of reference in the
research field of parental styles is Baumrind (1966,
1968, 1971, 1980), whose studies were initially focused
on the authoritarian and authoritative styles, before
extending to other upbringing patterns. Thus, she
described three parental styles: Authoritative, author-
itarian and permissive. In one of the studies, she found
that authoritative parents obtained better results in
terms of their children’s competence (Baumrind,
1968), a conclusion reached by numerous studies
using different methods, measures and samples
(Steinberg & Morris, 2001). This perspective repre-
sented, at that time, a change in the dominant paradigm
which considered firm parental control as the most
appropriate for effective socialization (Lewis, 1981).
Finally, the four parental styles most well known today
were proposed by Maccoby and Martin (1983), who
added a fourth type to the three previous styles
(authoritative, authoritarian and permissive).
Reinterpreting the basic dimensions proposed by
Baumrind, these authors redefined parental styles in
accordance with two aspects: Control or demanding-
ness and affect or responsiveness. They observed that
permissiveness presented different forms, indulgence
and negligence, the latter having been absent from
Baumrind’s model, and thus established the authorita-
tive, authoritarian, neglectful and indulgent styles.
An authoritative parent can be defined as one who is
demanding but sensitive (or responsive) at the same
 2 E. BECOÑA ET AL.
time, who accepts the progressive independence of his
or her children, who has an open style of communi-
cation with them and who applies flexible rules. On the
other hand, the authoritarian style is characterized by
the establishment of rigid norms, with little participa-
tion from the child, and with severe punishments for
non-compliance with those norms. Moreover, commu-
nication tends to be poor, the rules inflexible and
independence scarce. The parental style traditionally
associated with substance use is that usually referred to
as neglectful. Such parents would be indifferent, laying
down no limits but also failing to provide affect to their
children, and this style is considered a risk factor for
the use of drugs in adolescents (Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009;
Lamborn, Mounts, Steinberg, & Dornbush, 1991;
Rothrauff, Cooney, & An, 2009). Finally, the indulgent
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parental style is characterized by a failure to set limits.
Such parents would show unconditional love for their
children, but make very few demands, and make little
use of punishment.
From the above, it can be seen that the concepts of
parental styles, parenting styles, rearing styles,
upbringing styles and family types have been inter-
mingled in research in this field, without clear distinc-
tion and referring, at least on a theoretical level, to the
same thing: The strategies employed by parents in the
For personal use only.
upbringing of their children. Moreover, the concept of
parental style has been considered as multidimensional,
so that beyond the two classical orthogonal dimensions
(affect and control) are other variables that should be
taken into account, such as communication, the
encouragement of independence, psychological con-
trol, behavioural control, revelation and mood (Oliva,
Parra, & Arranz, 2008). Furthermore, it should not be
overlooked that there is a two-way effect of upbringing
between children and parents (Lewis, 1981), since the
character of the child can facilitate or complicate the
type of upbringing style used by the parents.
Despite the conceptual variability, different studies
have indicated a clear relationship between parental
styles and psychological well-being (Schucksmith,
Hendry, & Glendinning, 1995), especially in the case
of the authoritative style. According to various authors,
it would be the most appropriate in non-clinical
populations in industrialized societies (López-Soler,
Puerto, López-Pina, & Prieto, 2009; Steinberg, 2001).
A relationship has also been found between an
authoritative parental style and better academic per-
formance (Spera, 2005). However, some studies sug-
gest that there is some degree of inconsistency when
we take into account ethnicity, culture and socio-
economic level (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). It would
appear that in other cultures or in high-risk contexts,
the authoritarian or permissive styles are appropriate,
or even the most appropriate, for obtaining good
upbringing outcomes (Cohen & Rice, 1997; López-
Soler et al., 2009). Thus, for example, in countries such
as Australia or even the United States, the authoritarian
style was found to be the best for parents with low
educational level (Spera, 2005). It has also been seen
how socio-economic level influences parenting prac-
tices: Parents from the lower social classes punish their
children more severely and show less involvement with
them (Spera, 2005).
Knowing which parental styles are the most appro-
priate for the upbringing of children is of crucial
importance, especially when the child reaches adoles-
cence, bearing in mind that it is at this stage when good
parental style favours the appropriate development of
individuals and a reduction in risks to their future
development, both physical and mental (Steinberg,
2002; Steinberg & Morris, 2001). We know that an
inadequate parental style can lead to aggressive
behaviours in childhood and in later life (Arranz,
Bellido, Manzano, Martı́n, & Olabarrieta, 2004), as
well as to the abuse of alcohol (Patock-Peckham &
Morgan-Lopez, 2006, 2009a, 2009b; Pons-Dı́ez, 1998)
or drugs (Lamborn et al., 1991). In contrast, an
adequate parental style helps to cushion the influence
of peers or of personal problems that may be related to
substance use (Kandel, 1996).
Taking into account all of the above, and the
important role played by the family in young people’s
adjustment, the aim of this review is to analyse the
empirical studies carried out on the relationship
between parental styles and the use of drugs, both
legal and illegal, in the last 30 years (1980–2010). If
we consider that the family has a crucial role in the
prevention and treatment of substance use in young
people, then there is no doubt that parental styles can
increase the risk of drug use or help to protect against it
(Velleman, Templeton, & Copello, 2005). There is a
whole series of reviews highlighting the importance of
the family in relation to drug use by sons and
daughters, all of which stress the crucial role of,
among other factors, the parental style (Nunes-Costa,
Lamela, & Figueiredo, 2009; Petraitis, Flay, Miller,
Torpy, & Greiner, 1998; Velleman et al., 2005).
Nevertheless, we have found just one work whose
objective was to review the literature on the influence
of parental styles in the drug use of offspring (Santana
& Mota, 2009), and even that review covers only
empirical articles related to the issue published
between 1997 and 2007, and includes solely those
studies with participants aged between 10 and 21.
ME TH O D
In carrying out this research, we reviewed the PubMed
and PsycINFO databases, using the following search
terms: ‘parental styles’ and its combination with
‘substance abuse disorders’, ‘addiction’, ‘drug abuse’,
‘drug use’, ‘drug dependence’, ‘alcohol’, ‘alcohol
dependence’, ‘beer’, ‘wine’, ‘spirits’, ‘hard liquor’,
‘smoking’, ‘tobacco’, ‘cigarettes’, ‘illicit drug’, ‘nar-
cotics’, ‘morphine’, ‘cannabis’, ‘hashish’, ‘marijuana’,
‘heroin’, ‘heroin dependence’, ‘ecstasy’, ‘MDMA’,
‘psychodelic agent’, ‘hallucinogens’, ‘cocaine’, ‘crack
 PARENTAL STYLES AND DRUG USE
cocaine’, ‘lysergic-acid’, ‘LSD’, ‘designer drugs’ and
‘club drugs’.
The search was confined to studies published
between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 2010, and
the languages considered were English, Spanish,
French, Italian and Portuguese. In order to better
organize the information, all the articles found were
grouped in the following categories: Empirical articles,
reviews and meta-analyses. For this review, we
selected only those empirical articles that contained
data from original research.
The search results revealed, in an initial screening,
513 references related to the subject in the PubMed and
PsycINFO databases, which were reduced to 160 after
checking for duplication.
Selection of the articles was carried out by two
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independent reviewers who trawled the databases and
screened the empirical articles, meta-analyses and
reviews, taking into account those that appeared more
than once. Based on a reading of the abstracts, the first
reviewer selected 68 references and the second
reviewer 72. When there were discrepancies between
the two reviewers (n ¼ 25), a third, independent
reviewer made the decision whether or not to include
the 25 articles, accepting 15 and excluding 10. In this
way, 72 articles were finally identified as ‘eligible’ for
For personal use only.
inclusion in the review. Of these, 1 could not be
located, 3 were reviews and 24 were found to be
unrelated to the subject once the whole article had been
read. Eventually, a total of 44 articles were included in
the review (Figure 1).
RESULTS
In order to facilitate the reading and comprehension of
the studies included in the review, once we identified
the different themes in the literature, we decided to
group them according to whether they addressed the
relationships between parental styles and substance
use, between parental styles and substance use with
mediating variables or between certain characteristics
of parents and substance use in their children.
Parental styles and substance use
Since Baumrind identified three parental styles and up
to the present, the authoritative style has been
highlighted as the most appropriate for the upbringing
of children, as it produces the best results (Baumrind,
1968; Martı́nez & Garcı́a, 2008; Steinberg & Morris,
2001) and more positive psychological adjustment
(Dwairy, 2004) and is more closely related to resilience
(Kritzas & Grobler, 2005). In relation to substance use,
the authoritative style of parenting has been associated
with lower levels of substance use in children (Aguilar,
Valencia, & Romero, 2004; Cohen & Rice, 1997;
Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009; Lamborn et al., 1991;
Rothrauff et al., 2009). More specifically, research
has found that the children of authoritative parents
present lower use of alcohol (Aguilar et al., 2004;
3
Bahr & Hoffmann, 2010; Cohen & Rice, 1997;
Courtois et al., 2007; Schucksmith, Glendinning,
& Hendry, 1997), less smoking (Cohen & Rice,
1997; Courtois et al., 2007; Radziszewska,
Richardson, Dent, & Flay, 1996), and less use of
cannabis (Courtois et al., 2007) and ecstasy
(Montgomery, Fisk, & Craig, 2008).
Research over the last two decades has shown the
authoritarian parental style to be associated with the
offspring’s greater use of alcohol (Schucksmith et al.,
1997) and other substances (Aguilar et al., 2004;
Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009), compared to the case of
authoritative parents. However, while findings show
higher levels of substance use in young people whose
parents employed an authoritarian style than in those
born to authoritative parents, these levels are lower
than in young people whose parents were neglectful
(Montgomery et al., 2008; Radziszewska et al., 1996).
Some studies have even found no differences in
substance abuse between adults who recalled their
parents as authoritarian and those who remembered
them as authoritative (Lamborn et al., 1991; Rothrauff
et al., 2009).
The parental style traditionally associated with
substance use is that usually referred to as neglectful,
considered a risk factor for the use of drugs in
adolescents (Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009; Lamborn et al.,
1991; Rothrauff et al., 2009), including tobacco
(Courtois et al., 2007; Radziszewska, et al., 1996),
alcohol (Bahr & Hoffmann, 2010; Courtois et al., 2007;
Montgomery et al., 2008; Schucksmith et al., 1997),
cannabis (Courtois et al., 2007; Montgomery et al.,
2008), cocaine (Montgomery et al., 2008) and ecstasy
(Montgomery et al., 2008). However, authors such as
Aguilar et al. (2004) found no relationship between the
neglectful parental style and substance abuse, though
the researchers themselves suggested that this finding
may have been attributable to the low prevalence of use
in the sample studied.
Finally, some authors have shown how smoking
(Cohen & Rice, 1997; Courtois et al., 2007) and the use
of alcohol (Cohen & Rice, 1997; Courtois et al., 2007;
Montgomery et al., 2008), cannabis (Courtois et al.,
2007; Montgomery et al., 2008), cocaine and ecstasy
(Montgomery et al., 2008) and drugs in general
(Lamborn et al., 1991) are associated with a permissive
parental style (as perceived by sons and daughters).
However, other studies have suggested that the per-
missive style may be adequate, and associated with less
substance use, like the authoritative style (Aguilar
et al., 2004; Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009; Rothrauff et al.,
2009), or that it would occupy an intermediate position
between the authoritative and neglectful styles
(Radziszewska et al., 1996). Accordingly, in Spain,
Garcı́a & Gracia (2010) found that the optimum
parental style was indulgent and that this parental
style was associated with less substance use in children
and adolescents between 10 and 14 years old.
 4 E. BECOÑA ET AL.

Parental styles and [Drugs]

Initial search in PubMed and PsychInfo between 1980 and 2010
(n = 513)

Articles selected after removing duplicates

(n = 160)

Articles selected Articles selected by second

by first reviewer reviewer
(n = 68) (n = 72)

Articles with coincidence

Drugs Edu Prev Pol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nicole Harpole on 03/12/12

between the two reviewers (n = 57)

Articles without coincidence

between the two reviewers (n = 25)

Articles with discrepancies

analyzed by the third reviewer
(n = 25)
For personal use only.

Articles
excluded
(n = 10)

Articles included
(n = 72)

Articles excluded
- 1 Not located
- 24 Found to be unrelated to
the issue on closer inspection
- 3 Reviews

Articles included in the final review

(n = 44)

Figure 1. Methodology for the selection of the studies.

Parental styles, substance use and mediating
variables
Several studies have analysed the influence of parental
styles on adolescents’ substance use and alcohol
problems through a series of mediating variables (e.g.
self-esteem, overprotection, depressive symptomatol-
ogy, feelings of autonomy, neurotic symptoms, path-
ological reasons to drink, self-regulation,
impulsiveness and control over drinking behaviour).
Patock-Peckham, Cheong, Balhorn, and Nagoshi
(2001) found that a permissive parent of the same sex
as the child was negatively related to the latter’s
process of self-regulation, which is a protective factor
against the use and abuse of alcohol. They also pointed
out that a permissive parental style can increase
impulsiveness, which would reduce control over
drinking behaviour and therefore increase the use of
alcohol and problems related to its use (Patock-
Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, 2006). However, they
also stress that having permissive parents increases the
 PARENTAL STYLES AND DRUG USE
children’s feelings of independence, which is a
protective variable against depression, and therefore
against alcohol-related problems (Patock-Peckham &
Morgan-Lopez, 2009a). With regard to the authoritar-
ian parental style, these authors argue that it is related
to higher levels of alcohol use, as it increases neurotic
symptoms and pathological reasons for drinking
(Patock-Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, 2009b).
Moreover, they point out that having an authoritarian
father makes the child feel overprotected, which gives
rise to lower self-esteem and a consequent increase in
depressive symptomatology and alcohol-related prob-
lems in males (Patock-Peckham & Morgan-Lopez,
2009a).
Finally, these authors consider the authoritative
parental style to be a protective factor against alcohol
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use. They observed that an authoritative upbringing
protects against feelings of parental rejection, and this
can lead to lower depressive symptomatology and a
reduction in alcohol-related problems (though not
reducing drinking itself) (Patock-Peckham & Morgan-
Lopez, 2007). It also seems that the authoritative style
would increase offspring’s feelings of independence,
again protecting them against depression and, there-
fore, alcohol-related problems (Patock-Peckham &
Morgan-Lopez, 2009a). Moreover, in women, having
For personal use only.
an authoritative mother was related to higher levels of
self-regulation, which is a protective factor against
alcohol use (Patock-Peckham et al., 2001).
Mounts (2002) highlighted the importance of four
variables in the upbringing of children: Monitoring,
guiding, prohibiting and supporting. However, she
points out that the management and effectiveness of
these variables will depend on the parental style
employed. Thus, she found that the higher the levels
of guiding, the lower the levels of drug use in
adolescents who reported authoritative, authoritarian
or indulgent parents. In contrast, drug use was greater
in the offspring of neglectful parents. As regards
monitoring, it was observed that in the case of
authoritative parents, high levels of monitoring led to
lower substance use in their sons and daughters. On the
other hand, in the case of authoritarian parents, the best
strategy was found to be neutrality, which was related
to lower levels of drug use in their children. However,
in neglectful parents, neutrality was related to greater
substance use. Tanski, Cin, Stoolmiller, and Sargent
(2010) conducted a study to determine if parental
restriction regarding Restricted-rated movies (R
movies) predicted lower rates of early-onset in alcohol
use. They found that more authoritative parenting
resulted in lower use of alcohol during early adoles-
cence in part because those adolescents view fewer R
movies. They concluded that there is a certain type of
media parenting, R-rated movie restriction, which has
direct and indirect longitudinal associations with
alcohol use over and above the impact of authoritative
parenting. Finally, Yang and Schaninger (2010) indi-
cated that indirect effects of parenting through self-
5
esteem are more insightful than the direct effects to
explain smoking progression. In this sense, they found
that increases in parental responsiveness bring about
increases in child’s self-esteem and decreases in
smoking. However, increases in psychological control
have the opposite effect.
Parents’ characteristics and substance use
In this section, we shall refer to those studies that focus
on the characteristics of parents, which have often been
included within the definition of different parental
styles. Thus, for example, it has been suggested that
upbringing styles characterized by lack of affect and
hostility are related to greater use of alcohol (Pons &
Berjano, 1997) and of other drugs (Johnson & Pandina,
1991). On the other hand, various studies have
highlighted the importance of control and monitoring
on the part of parents, so that the greater the perceived
monitoring and control, the lower the substance use
(Branstetter, Furman, & Cottrell, 2009; Choquet,
Hassler, Morin, Falissard, & Chau, 2007; Moore,
Rothwell, & Segrott, 2010; Schweitzer & Lawton,
1989). Some research indicates that when parents
control their children’s behaviour, the latter show
lower levels of alcohol use (Alati et al., 2010; Choquet
et al., 2007; Moore et al., 2010), smoking (Chassin
et al., 2005; Choquet et al., 2007) and cannabis use
(Choquet et al., 2007). Likewise, Craig, Fisk,
Montgomery, Murphy, and Wareing (2010) found
that polydrug users perceived lower levels of parental
warmth and control compared with non-users and
cannabis users, and their perceived lack of parental
discipline has been related to legal and illegal
substance use (Garcı́a, Blasco, López, & Pol, 2010).
In relation to this, researchers have stressed the
importance of setting appropriate limits, which would
act as mediators between responsibility on the part of
parents and behaviour problems in children, and this is
in line with the authoritative parental model (Oliver,
Guerin, & Coffman, 2009). Also, Lester et al. (2010)
pointed that positive maternal bonds were associated
with less youth substance use.
Some research has focused on the study of rejection
by parents, given its direct or indirect relationship with
aggression and delinquency, which are in turn associ-
ated with substance use (Barnow, Lucht, Hamm, John,
& Freyberger, 2004; Schweitzer & Lawton, 1989). It
was observed that the perception of rejection or
overprotection was related to drug dependence in
individuals addicted to heroin (Andersson & Eisemann,
2003), and also conflict with the fathers has been
related with opioid dependence (Moselhy, Fahmy,
Mikhael, & El-Sheikh, 2010). In a study with alco-
holics, the authors found that they scored higher in
rejection and overprotection and lower in emotional
warmth than individuals from the normal population
(DeJong, Harteveld, van de Wielen, & van de Staak,
1991). However, according to Barnow, Schuckit,
Lucht, John, and Freyberger (2002), neither lower
 6 E. BECOÑA ET AL.
levels of emotional warmth nor rejection by parents are
directly associated with alcohol-related problems.
Another important factor is family conflict as Lester
et al. (2010) found that a higher level of youth
aggression during family conflict was stronger associ-
ated with substance use.
Finally, we should make some comments about the
influence of the parents’ drug use on that of their sons
and daughters. There is evidence that parents have
substantial influence on the addictive and antisocial
behaviour of their children, especially when they
themselves have a tendency for such behaviours
(Banda & Frı́as, 2006). Schweitzer and Lawton
(1989) found that 44% of drug addicts had parents
who used or had used alcohol and drugs. Likewise,
Avendaño, Valenzuela, Correa, Almonte, and
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Sepúlveda (1988), studying smoking in young people,
found that the reasons they gave for continuing to
smoke included the fact that members of their family
did so, whilst one of the reasons young non-smokers
gave for not smoking was that their parents did not
smoke or prohibited them from doing so. According to
this, Yang and Schaninger (2010) pointed out that
adolescent smoking increases in time if they had
parents who were smokers. As regards alcohol, it
seems that adolescents with family antecedents of
For personal use only.
alcoholism (Barnow et al., 2002) or with parents who
use alcohol (Hesselbrock, Stabenau, & Hall, 1985;
Johnson & Pandina, 1991) are more likely to use it
themselves. Moore et al. (2010) found that if parents’
attitudes towards substance misuse and towards alcohol
become more liberal, drinking behaviours become
significantly more likely. However, other studies
suggest that individuals with alcoholic parents drink
less (Avendaño et al., 1988) and that their psychosocial
functioning is unaffected (Segrin & Menees, 1996).
DISCUSSION
In this study, we have conducted a literature review on
the relation between parental styles and substance use
in offspring (1980–2010). All the studies analysed
appear to stress the importance of the family, and
specifically of parents, in the use of legal and illegal
substances by their sons and daughters. However, the
study of parental styles and drug use in offspring
represents a currently underresearched field with
limited information available regarding which parental
style is the most appropriate or which one is a high risk
for substance use.
It is well known that parental styles play a funda-
mental role in the use and non-use of drugs in children
as they can increase the risk of drug use or help to
protect against it (Velleman et al., 2005). However, of
the 44 studies reviewed, only 4 had their primary
objective focused on the study of this topic. In addition,
parental styles, as we noted in the introduction, have
been considered as multidimensional, so that other
variables such as communication, encouragement of
independence, psychological control and behavioural
control should be taken into account (Oliva et al., 2008)
beyond the two classical orthogonal dimensions of
affect and control. This inevitably affects the instru-
ments used for the assessment of parental styles. In the
studies reviewed, we have found instruments that were
focused on concepts which while related, are still
different, such as rearing practices, parenting styles,
parental discipline, parental styles, supervision and
discipline, sensitivity and support, rearing styles,
control, warmth or upbringing styles. So, there is a
wide range of instruments that maybe do not measure
the same construct and this can constitute a serious
problem on comparing the different studies.
Another problem we have found while reviewing the
studies was related to the assessment because most of
the studies were carried out using self-report data
(Aguilar et al., 2004; Bahr & Hoffmann, 2010; Barnow
et al., 2004; Choquet et al., 2007; Craig et al., 2010;
Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009; Garcı́a et al., 2010; Huurre
et al., 2010; Lester et al., 2010; Moore et al., 2010;
Mounts, 2002; Patock-Peckham et al., 2001; Patock-
Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, 2006; Radziszewska et al.,
1996; Rothrauff et al., 2009; Schweitzer & Lawton,
1989; Tanski et al., 2010; Yang & Schaninger, 2010). It
would be advantageous to use other methods for
confirming what was reported by the adolescents, such
as observation or interviews with parents.
It should be also noted that there is a need for more
longitudinal research, since the majority of the studies
reviewed were cross-sectional (Aguilar et al., 2004;
Bahr & Hoffmann, 2010; Cohen & Rice, 1997; Craig
et al., 2010; Garcı́a & Gracia, 2009, 2010; Garcı́a et al.,
2010; Lester et al., 2010; Moore et al., 2010; Moselhy
et al., 2010; Patock-Peckham et al., 2001; Patock-
Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, 2006, 2007, 2009a, 2009b;
Radziszewska et al., 1996; Schweitzer & Lawton,
1989). Bearing in mind that we are talking not about
experimental studies, but rather studies of a descriptive
or correlational nature, it is not possible to establish
causal relationships. This is an important issue, espe-
cially in this field, because as Lewis (1981) pointed
out, there is a two-way effect of upbringing between
children and parents so that not only the parents
influence their children but the character of the
children can also facilitate or complicate the type of
upbringing style used by the parents. This is something
that was not taken into account in the studies reviewed
and would be interesting to longitudinally investigate.
On the other hand, in some studies, the samples are
small or very small (between 100 and 500 participants)
(Barnow et al., 2004; Chassin et al., 2005; Courtois
et al., 2007; Craig et al., 2010; Garcı́a & Gracia, 2010;
Moselhy et al., 2010), which considerably limits the
generalization of the results.
We should not forget the importance of family
structure in the study of parental styles as this
inevitably influences both parental styles and drug
use. Some studies have highlighted that it seems that
 PARENTAL STYLES AND DRUG USE
young people from families with both parents and from
single-parent families are less likely to use alcohol and
other substances than those from stepfamilies (Choquet
et al., 2007; Schucksmith et al., 1997; Yang &
Schaninger, 2010). Likewise, in relation to divorce,
Huurre et al. (2010) found that parental divorce had a
strong significant effect on excessive alcohol use
among males and Nunes-Costa et al. (2009) pointed
out that individuals who had experienced the break-up
of their parents’ marriage present more problems of
externalization, including addictive behaviours.
However, it seems that this was due not to the divorce
itself, but rather to associated variables, such as
conflictive family atmosphere, and inadequate parent-
ing practices. Finally, also Alati et al. (2010) found that
low parental control in the context of change in family
Drugs Edu Prev Pol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nicole Harpole on 03/12/12
structure was the stronger predictor of problematic
drinking patterns in adolescence.
We should also stress the need, as did Darling and
Steinberg (1993), for further research analysing the
influence of culture on parental styles and the reper-
cussions for substance use in offspring, since it has
been observed how in samples from Asia having an
authoritarian father was related to less use of alcohol
(Cohen & Rice, 1997), while in Bloemfontein (South
Africa) the authoritarian parental style was found to be
For personal use only.
positively related to coping strategies in white adoles-
cents in contrast to many findings in the literature on
this parental style, which associates it with psycholog-
ical alterations (Kritzas & Grobler, 2005). Similar
findings were reported for the Arab culture, in a study
indicating that the authoritarian parental style was not
related to negative adjustment (Dwairy, 2004). In
contrast, in countries such as Spain, the opposite seems
to be true, and the best upbringing strategy identified
appears to be one in which there are high levels of
parental affect and involvement with low levels of
demandingness. Therefore, the indulgent style is
suggested as the most appropriate in the Spanish
culture, even above the authoritative style (Garcı́a &
Gracia, 2009, 2010). On the other hand, there are
studies suggesting that outcomes do not vary accord-
ing to culture (Radziszewska et al., 1996;
Steinberg, 2001).
It would also be necessary to analyse more in depth
the role of parents’ sex in the way upbringing styles
influence children. Various studies have shown how
the effects of parental styles on substance use in
offspring depend on the coincidence or lack of
coincidence of sex between parents and children
(Aguilar et al., 2004; Patock-Peckham et al., 2001;
Patock-Peckham & Morgan-Lopez, 2006, 2009a,
2009b). However, Schweitzer and Lawton (1989)
found no differences in the assignment of parents to
different parental styles according to sex in a group of
young substance users.
As Santana and Mota (2009) pointed out in a
previous review, parental styles clearly influence drug
use/non-use in adolescents. However, these authors do
7
not indicate in their review which parental style is the
most appropriate in relation to drug use in one’s
children. According to the majority of studies, the
authoritative style is protective against substance use.
For Steinberg and Silk (2002), there could be three
reasons for this: The appropriate balance which is
struck between control over the young person and his
or her independence; communicative exchanges that
promote both intellectual development in particular and
psychosocial competence in general; and the warmth
and affective qualities associated with this parental
style, which facilitate the parents’ attempts at social-
ization, making their children more receptive to them.
Even so, some research suggests that other styles may
also be appropriate (Aguilar et al., 2004; Garcı́a &
Gracia, 2009, 2010; Mounts, 2002; Radziszewska
et al., 1996). Most studies agree in reporting an
association between the neglectful parental style and
substance use. However, and as Petraitis et al. (1998)
noted in a previous review, there is no consensus on the
effects of the authoritarian and permissive parental
styles, insofar as some studies find them to be risk
factors for drug use among adolescents while others do
not.
In this review on parental styles and substance use in
offspring, we have considered all the studies published
in the last 30 years, going a step further than previous
work on concluding that it seems clear that an
authoritative style in parents is related to lower use
of both legal and illegal substances in their sons and
daughters, whilst the neglectful style would be related
to substance use. As regards the authoritarian and
indulgent or permissive parental styles, the studies
published to date do not actually allow us to conclude
that they are associated with greater substance use in
offspring. This may be due to the fact that such
parental styles are highly culture-dependent, so that
the inconsistency of the results found could be
attributed to the context in which each study was
carried out.
Taking into account the influence of parents on the
substance use of their children, there is a need to carry
out more studies focusing on the family, as well as
implementing family interventions, with a view on the
prevention and treatment of drug dependence (Barnow
et al., 2004; Pons & Berjano, 1997; Schucksmith et al.,
1997; Schweitzer & Lawton, 1989). In future research,
it would be relevant to use more diverse samples
(different ethnic backgrounds, different socio-
economic status) and different family structures
(living with both parents, with single parent families,
reconstituted families), as well as exploring whether
there are differences between men and women in
parental styles, and consequently in the effects on drug
use. Finally, we should point out the need for further
research focusing on the study of parental styles
and the use of illegal drugs, such as cannabis or
cocaine, given the constant increase in their use in our
society.
 8 E. BECOÑA ET AL.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Preparation of this article has been supported in part by
the European Commission, Directorate General for
Justice, which funds the project JLS/DPIP/2008-2/112,
European Family Empowerment. Also from the
Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre
Drogas of Spain (Government Delegation for the National
Drug Plan), who has funded the Strategic Organization
Family Network (SAS/1361/2010 ORDER of 14 May
2010).
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of
interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content
and writing of the article.
Drugs Edu Prev Pol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Nicole Harpole on 03/12/12
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