Parenting Styles and Addiction

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A very common discussion that happens worldwide amongst parents and young people is whether being a strict parent is ultimately good or bad. This discussion is even more prevalent in recovery communities. There are strong correlations between childhood trauma and all sorts of mental health disorders, including addiction (substance use disorder). At Florida Springs Wellness and Recovery Center, our therapists work with patients to identify past trauma possible triggers related to that trauma, in order to constructively move forward in recovery. The best drug and alcohol rehabs in Florida and around the country will always include some curriculum on trauma and overcoming negative past experiences in a healthy and safe environment.

 If you spend your Saturday night going to an AA or NA speaker meeting, which I recommend people do from time to time, you will often hear speakers highlighting their own struggles during youth. Oftentimes speakers in recovery meetings find it easier to connect with an audience in recovery through discussion of trauma, as it is a commonly shared bond amongst many of us. Not everyone in recovery experienced demonstrable trauma at a young age, but there is a correlation, and childhoods that were disrupted by divorce or dysfunction are more common than not as well. With that said, it is natural that parents who are raising children are always hungry for answers about the best possible parenting techniques to set their children up for success and help them avoid suffering later. In past decades in America, we had common phrases like “spare the rod, spoil the child” which served to glorify corporal punishment (Spanking, whipping, etc.). We now know from hundreds of scientific studies that corporal punishment is wrong and destructive. Children from households who use physical abuse as a method of discipline are much more likely to have major negative effects from those experiences. Beyond just worse outcomes during adulthood, a recent study also found immediate negative effects from corporal punishment including “Decline in creative ability, lower self-confidence, fear of teachers and schools, and anxiety/stress”.

With that said, dismissing corporal punishment as ineffectual and counter-productive does not say anything about strict parenting itself. Many parents want to know what parenting style is best, including what parenting styles will keep their children from experiencing the heartache of substance use disorder, or addiction. A recent study published very interesting findings on that exact topic, and we will look at that research today. If you or a loved one needs the best drug and alcohol rehab in Florida, contact Florida Springs in Panama City today.

Addiction Susceptibility from Parenting Styles

According to this study from the Journal of Research in Medical Science, “offering efficient parenting style training to people with children should be a primary goal of drug demand reduction programs.”

We face enormous obstacles right now in this country related to the ongoing opioid and meth epidemics, now supercharged by the massive increases in deadly street-fentanyl availability. We also have an ever-worsening alcohol use disorder epidemic, fueled recently by increased drinking and increased stress and anxiety from the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to fight our way out of these immense challenges, we will need every weapon available to us. Parents are a hugely important factor in this fight, and this study makes clear that there are good recommendations we can make to parent on how to help their kids avoid substance abuse and addiction. There were 4 main parenting methods that were defined by the researchers. Authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, and neglectful. The most important takeaway for anyone reading this article is this: there was no major difference between adolescent outcomes from authoritative and permissive parenting, but both of those parenting styles showed astounding benefits when compared to both authoritarian and neglectful styles. In other words, being a neglectful parent was found to be very bad, and being an authoritarian parent was found to be equally as bad as neglect.

Nurturing, Responsive, Supportive

Both types of parenting which were defined as responsive performed best. Authoritarian parents are the strict “my way or the highway” disciplinarians, who were found to be just as destructive as neglectful parents. Authoritative parents, on the other hand, are said to be nurturing, responsive, and supportive, while having more strict limitations compared to permissive parents.

According to research, authoritative parents, “attempt to control children’s behavior by explaining rules, discussing, and reasoning”, while authoritarian parents “do not feel it necessary to explain or discuss the reasoning behind their own parental choices and rules.” Non-responsive parenting styles, both neglectful and authoritarian, made it more likely for their children to have serious negative outcomes including drug and alcohol addiction. “Listening to a child’s viewpoint” seems to be one key of overcoming non-responsive parenting. Both permissive parents and authoritative parents “listen to a child” before coming to different conclusions about whether a certain activity is within the household rules, while neglectful parents are not around enough to listen, and authoritarian parents do not find value in listening to children.  Hopefully solid scientific analysis like this can help parents make choices that play a role in someday ending the current crisis of addiction in America, especially addiction among adolescents.

By Tim Cannon

References

“Attachment styles and addiction susceptibility of adolescents” Journal of Research in Medical Sciences. Sep2011, Vol. 16 Issue 9, p1105-1121. 17p.

“Parenting Styles” – American Psychological Association