Risk and Protective Factors for Substance Use Among Adolescents Involved with the Child Welfare System

Based on the family resilience framework, the current study used a longitudinal design to investigate the relationship between youth (depression and trauma) and parent (parental monitoring and parental substance dependence) risk factors and protective factors (caregiver relatedness) for substance use among adolescents involved with the child welfare system that remain living with a biological parent. Overall the hypothesized effects were not significant for youth and parent risk factors. The moderator and interaction effects also failed to support the hypotheses of the study. Two control variables, age and initial levels of substance use, emerged as consistent predictors of future adolescent substance use. Parental monitoring approached significance in both path models suggesting that more parental monitoring among at risk adolescents can reduce future substance use. Post hoc cross-sectional analysis supported the relationship between depression, parental monitoring, and caregiver relatedness with current substance use of at risk adolescents. Based on these results, clinical recommendations include increased training on assessment and early identification of risks for adolescent substance use among child welfare caseworkers and clinicians. Future research should focus on longitudinal analyses using an at risk sample. Finally, significant correlations which were not addressed in the original research questions and hypotheses of the study should be explored.