Alcohol and Drug Use among Youth - The Interplay of Future Orientation, Parenting, and Housing Conditions

Background: Past research indicated that future orientation might protect against substance use; however, this potential had not yet been examined in the context of a multiple risk factor model that would include different parenting styles and indicators of the material situation. Additionally, past research draws primarily from a limited set of geographical regions, often using convenience samples of children and adolescents. Objectives: The current study addresses these issues by examining (in)direct relationships between substance use (alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs), future orientation, different parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive), and family housing conditions, using a representative sample of Slovenian youth. Methods: Correlational and path analyses were used to test the proposed hypotheses. Additionally, possible mediating pathways were examined and evaluated. Results: Findings indicated a negative relation between future orientation and use of all substances. Next, future orientation fully mediated the effect of authoritative parenting on substance use. Finally, housing conditions had a direct and positive effect on authoritative parenting, a direct and an indirect effect on future orientation and only an indirect (through authoritative parenting and future orientation) effect on substance use. Conclusions: Results, besides indicating the relevance of future orientation in understanding substance use among youth, highlight the importance of authoritative parenting (that spans beyond childhood and adolescence) and housing conditions on the development of future orientation. In addition, findings highlight the importance of the material situation when examining antecedents of substance use among youth that might be missed if only direct effects are observed. Results are discussed in the context of the risk factor paradigm.