Reciprocal influence of parent discipline and child's behavior on risk for substance use disorder: A nine-year prospective study

Aim: This study aimed at determining the association of father's and mother's ( parental) substance use disorder (SUD) and discipline styles and son's neurobehavior disinhibition (ND) with son's SUD from childhood ( age 10-12) to young adulthood ( age 19). It was hypothesized that ( 1) parental discipline styles and son's ND mediate the association between parental SUD and son's SUD, ( 2) son's ND mediates the association between parental discipline styles and son's SUD, and ( 3) parental discipline styles mediate the association between ND and SUD in the son. Methods: Two-hundred-sixty-three families including a 10-12 year-old son and both parents participated in the study. Results: ( 1) mother's discipline styles predicted father's discipline styles, ( 2) son's ND predicted mother's instilling guilt positively and father's punishment negatively, ( 3) son's ND mediated the association between father's SUD and punishment and son's SUD, and ( 4) mother's SUD predicted son's ND and SUD. Conclusions: The reciprocal prediction between son's ND and father's punishment and prediction of father's punishment by mother's punishment point to the need for family-based interventions that take into account the quality of specific dyadic interactions pertaining to discipline behaviors that amplify the risk for SUD in male children.