Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion
Top Ten Findings
Keeping Teens Safe: How the Intact Family Buffers Against Teen Substance Use
May 2008
1. Cigarette use. Teens in intact families are less likely to initiate cigarette smoking compared to peers in non-intact families. Compared to peers in intact families, teens of never-married parents as well as those of divorced parents who did not remarry (but not those of divorced parents who later remarried) were more likely to initiate smoking, controlling for effects of gender, race/ethnicity, age, family poverty status, quality of parent-child relationship, number of hours spent with parents.
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2. Cigarette use. Teens in two-parent families reported, on average, lower levels of cigarette smoking than peers in single-parent families. Compared to peers in single-parent families, middle-school and high-school students in two-parent families reported, on average, lower levels of smoking, even after controlling for the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, and family income.
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3. Alcohol abuse. Teens in two-parent families reported, on average, lower levels of drinking than those in single-parent families. Compared to peers in single-parent families, middle school and high school students in two-parent families reported lower levels of alcohol use on average, even after controlling for the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, and family income.
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4. Alcohol abuse. Teens in intact families are less likely to abuse alcohol than peers in non-intact families. Compared to peers living in homes where both parents were present, teens living in families with fathers and stepmothers, mothers only, fathers only, mothers and other relatives, or other relatives only (but not those in families with both parents and other relatives, mothers and stepfathers, mothers and other relatives, or other relatives only) were more likely to have been drunk three or more times in the prior year, adjusting for the effects of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and family income.
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5. Alcohol and marijuana use. Teens who lived in intact families during early adolescence are less likely to initiate alcohol and marijuana use than peers who lived in non-intact families. Adolescents who lived in intact families during early adolescence (ages 12 to 14) were less likely to initiate alcohol use during late adolescence (ages 15 to 18) compared to peers in stepparent families. Similarly, adolescents who lived in intact families during early adolescence (ages 12 to 14) were less likely to initiate marijuana use during late adolescence (ages 15 to 18) compared to peers in stepparent families as well as those in single-parent families. This was true taking into account teens’ age, race/ethnicity, gender, and their parents’ education level.
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6. Illicit drug use. Teens in intact families are less likely to use illicit drugs other than marijuana compared to peers in non-intact families. Compared to peers living in homes in which both parents were present, teens living in families with mothers and stepfathers, fathers and stepmothers, mothers only, fathers only, or other relatives only (but not those in families with both parents and other relatives or those in families with mothers and other relatives) were more likely to have used illicit drugs other than marijuana in the past 12 months, adjusting for the effects of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and family income.
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7. Illicit drug use (European teens). European teens in intact families are less likely to use illicit drugs than peers in non-intact families. Compared to peers who were not living with both biological parents at the time of the survey, youth were who living with both biological parents were less likely to use illicit drugs, taking into account parent-child relationship quality, parental supervision, social class, drug availability in the city, and youth’s delinquent behavior.
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8. Cocaine use. Individuals from intact families are less likely to use cocaine compared to peers from non-intact families. Compared to peers from intact families, individuals whose parents divorced while growing up and had at least weekly contact with their nonresident parents the year following the divorce were 58 percent more likely to have used cocaine in the year prior the survey; and individuals whose parents divorced and had at least monthly contact with their nonresident parents in the year following the divorce were 63 percent more likely to have used cocaine in the year prior to the survey. This was true taking into account respondents’ race/ethnicity, gender, age, childhood religious affiliation, educational expectation at age 18, maternal educational attainment, alcoholism in the family, whether or not respondents were born in the U.S, and whether or not a family member had a library card growing up.
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9. Drug abuse. Teens in intact families are less likely to abuse drugs compared to peers in non-intact families. Compared to peers living in homes where both parents were present, teens living in families with fathers and stepmothers, mothers only, fathers only, mothers and other relatives, or other relatives only (but not those in families with both parents and other relatives, mothers and stepfathers, mothers and other relatives, or other relatives only) were more likely to have abused drugs the past 12 months, adjusting for the effects of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and family income.
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10. Behavioral problems. Teens in intact families are less likely to exhibit behavioral problems such as binge drinking than peers in blended or divorced single-parent families. Compared to peers in intact families, teens in blended or divorced single-parent families tended to have higher levels of behavioral problems in the last month, such as using tobacco, beer or wine, hard liquor and/or marijuana, binge drinking, carrying a weapons, physical fighting, and/or engaging in sexual activity. This was true controlling for age, gender, race, maternal educational attainment, parental support and monitoring, peer and neighbor support, and school attachment.
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Events:Religious Practice and Civic Life: What the Research Says October 4, 2007 |