Does one Size Fit All?—Linking Parenting With Adolescent Substance Use and Adolescent Temperament

Artikelförfattare: Sabina Kapetanovic, Therése Skoog, Margareta Bohlin, Arne Gerdner

Abstract

Using longitudinal Swedish data from 1,373 early-adolescent youths, this study aims to answer the question of whether the previously established protective function of parental knowledge and its sources—adolescent disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control—on substance use among early-adolescents is moderated by the adolescent’s temperament. Adolescent temperament moderated several links between parental knowledge and its sources and adolescent substance use. The most pronounced moderating results were found for those adolescents with fearless, socially detached and thrill-seeking tendencies. For these “detached thrill-seekers”, bidirectional links between adolescent disclosure and substance use, and negative links between parental solicitation and substance use were found. We recommend, therefore, that adolescent temperament is considered when designing parenting programs.