Child-Parent Relationships and Parents’ Preventive Behaviors Affecting the Onset of Substance Use in Children: My Family Study

Considering the fundamental role that parents play in a family dynamic, it is important to explore the parent-child relationship and examine what protective behaviors or risk factors may contribute to the onset of substance use in children. The present study aims to investigate the correlation between child-parent relationships and parents’ preventive behaviors and their effect on the onset of substance use in children. This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2014 among 234 randomly selected volunteer participants. These participants, who were all Tehran-based Iranian mothers, filled out a self-administered questionnaire in which they recorded: I-demographic information, II of family-based behaviors aimed at preventing the onset of substance use in children, and III of the child-parent relationship. Data were analyzed via SPSS software (ver. 21.0) using Pearson correlations, independent t-tests, and ANOVA at a 95% significant level. Results reported a negative significant correlation between conflict and closeness (r = -0.465, P ≥ 0.001), a positive significant correlation between closeness and preventive behaviors (r = 0.852, P ≥ 0.001), and a negative significant correlation between conflict and preventive behaviors (r = -0.605, P ≥ 0.001). The findings suggest that the development of preventive programs will contribute to increases in the child-mother closeness relationship and will help to prevent the onset of substance use in children.