Parenting styles and emerging adult drug use in Cebu, the Philippines

Parenting style and its effect on eating disorders and substance abuse across the young population

This article attempts to examine the occurrence of two behavioural changes, namely, substance abuse and eating disorders in order of onset mediated by ineffective parenting styles during young age. The four parenting styles and their consequential behavioural adverse effects are taken as the focal point of this study and are synthesized to provide an outlook on the status of ineffective parenting and deviant offspring behaviours. A review of literature was primarily undertaken to examine the characteristic features of ineffective parenting. A causal relationship was then drawn between the onset of behavioural disorders with an emphasis on substance abuse and eating disorders, along the parenting spectrum. We probed into the order and directionality of the offspring behavioural changes against ineffective parenting. The current available data shows the superimposition of the parenting style spectrum on a bell-shaped distribution of behavioural outcomes as exemplified by authoritarian, permissive and neglectful parenting as a prime determinant of several disorders among the young age; parenting styles being at the extremities of the parenting spectrum. The sweet spot of parenting, mainly associated to the authoritative approach, bears the most positive effect on the growing child. The extreme ends of parenting as per the varying degree of responsiveness and demandingness, generally observed in authoritarian and neglectful parenting precipitate concomitant deviant behaviours cascading from one another; intricately linking substance abuse and eating disorders. A number of studies describe the isolated effects of ineffective parenting on the development of substance abuse and eating disorders during the adolescent period. However, the relationship between both eating disorders and substance abuse is underplayed and need to be stressed upon to tailor behaviour-specific targeted therapies and restore the normalcy of these altered behaviours.

How the parenting style adopted can lead to a concurrent amalgam of disordered eating patterns and substance abuse.

How disordered eating behaviours and substance abuse are initiated as coping strategies to deal with the consequences of poor parenting.

Isolation of specific risk factors to deter the development of those deviant behaviours in addition to improvement of parenting methods.

Associations between alexithymia, parental rearing styles, and frequency of drug use in male methamphetamine dependence patients

BACKGROUND

Alexithymia, which is characterized by difficulty identifying and describing feelings, is a stable personality trait and it has been associated with early life experiences. Methamphetamine dependence patients with high level of alexithymia may be particularly vulnerable to engaging in more frequent methamphetamine use. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate whether alexithymia was associated with frequency of methamphetamine use. Additionally, the current study sought to examine early-life factors associated with the development of alexithymia, i.e., parental rearing styles.

METHOD

Participants were 108 non-injecting methamphetamine dependent patients from a male compulsory detoxification center. The level of alexithymia was assessed by Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20(TAS-20). In addition, we applied Egna Minneu av. Bardndosnauppforstran (EMBU) to assess the parental rearing styles, including the dimensions of warmth, rejection, punishment/strictness, overinvolvement, overprotection, and favoring.

RESULTS

The total score of TAS-20 was positively correlated with frequency of methamphetamine use (r = 0.26, p < 0.01). Specifically, except for externally oriented thinking, difficulty identifying feelings (r = 0.23, p < 0.05) and difficulty describing feelings (r = 0.25, p < 0.05) were positively correlated with frequency of methamphetamine use. Multiple linear regression showed that more maternal rejection (B = 0.59, p = 0.002), or less maternal warmth (B = -0.22, p = 0.004) was associated with higher levels of alexithymia. Ordinal logistic regression showed that for every 1 score increase in the total score of TAS-20, there was a 1.06 times risk of a one level increase in the level of methamphetamine use frequency (OR = 1.06, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

These results have major implications for understanding the role of alexithymia in craving and addiction, while providing a further and explicit entry point for addiction treatment. Moreover, more attention should be focused on parenting in relation to early experiences.

Cutting the cord? Parenting emerging adults with chronic pain

The role of parent factors, such as distress and protective behaviors, on pain and functional outcomes of emerging adults living with chronic pain has been largely unexplored. The effects of helicopter parenting and developmental changes occurring during this transition period between adolescence and adulthood (commonly defined as the ages between 18 and 30 years) may exacerbate the pain experience and have the potential to influence chronic pain management. Clinical practice, with an additional focus on supporting the parent(s), may aid in meeting the needs of this population. In this paper, we review the available literature on (a) the socio-cultural shift in parenting over the past decade with a focus on helicopter parenting; (b) the impact of this parenting style on the pain experience and outcomes of emerging adults living with chronic pain; (c) provide recommendations for chronic pain management with a focus on the parent-emerging adult dyad; and (d) conclude with future research recommendations. This narrative review is the first to consider the impacts and outcomes of helicopter parenting on emerging adults with chronic pain.

Early life stress and HPA axis function independently predict adult depressive symptoms in metropolitan Cebu, Philippines

OBJECTIVES

Alterations in adult hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity have increasingly been linked with early life stress and adult depression, but a limited number of studies have used longitudinal data to explore HPA axis dysregulation as an underlying mechanism driving the long-term depressive impacts of early stressors. Here we address potential long-term impacts of early life, family-based stress on depressive symptoms among young adults in a longitudinal birth cohort study begun in 1983 in the Philippines.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We relate a composite measure of family-based stressors experienced between birth and adolescence to circadian dynamics in adult salivary cortisol and depressive risk measured at 21-22 years of age. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between early life stress levels and risk of adult depressive symptoms, as well as the role of adult diurnal cortisol activity in this relationship.

RESULTS

Greater levels of early life familial stress predicted more severe depressive symptomatology at age 21-22 in a dose-response fashion (p < .0001) independent of adult diurnal cortisol patterns. Flatter diurnal cortisol slopes are directly associated with higher adult depressive symptoms, an effect mostly driven by evening cortisol levels (p = .004). When considering the cumulative effects of early life stress measures, however, exposure to more of these stressors during development is associated with even higher depressive symptoms.

DISCUSSION

The long-term depressive effects of early life familial stress extend to this large sample of Cebuano young adults, and early life stress and HPA axis function may shape adult depressive symptoms through independent pathways in this sample. Our findings provide further evidence that HPA axis activity is shaped by early life conditions and is associated with depressive symptoms.

Protective Factors and Biological Sex Differentiate Profiles of Teen Substance Users in Myanmar

Background. Reports on worldwide drug use include some information on risk factors, but virtually no information on protective factors, which are an important component of prevention programs. Aims. This study investigated protective factors and biological sex differences associated with patterns of substance use among adolescents in Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia. Method. Myanmar high school students (N = 1,918; M_age = 15.35, SD = 1.07, range = 14-18; 56% female) completed a version of the Communities That Care survey validated for use in this population. Results. Latent class analysis revealed "Low Users" (38%), "Normative Users" (47%), and "Poly Drug Users" (15%) classes for males, and "Low Users" (80%), "Glue/Over-the-Counter Medication Users" (14%), and "High Users" (6%) classes for females. Univariate analyses indicated that belief in the moral order and positive family attachment differentiated profiles for both males and females; opportunities for prosocial family involvement, prosocial peer behavior, and opportunities to talk with teachers were additionally significant for males only. Logistic regression analysis comparing males in the "Low Users" and "Normative Users" classes indicated that opportunities for prosocial family involvement was protective after accounting for significant demographic and risk factors. In contrast, analyses comparing other classes of males or females found that once significant demographic and risk factors were controlled, protective factors did not discriminate classes. Conclusions. These data suggest that sex-specific prevention and intervention strategies may be more successful than universal approaches, and that attention to both risk and protective factors in prevention programming is warranted.

Parenting styles and emerging adult depressive symptoms in Cebu, the Philippines

Incidence of depressive disorders and symptoms increases during the transition to adulthood. The parenting relationship is a potential target for interventions to reduce risk for depression in offspring during this time period, and a four-category typology of parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, and neglectful) has been found to correlate with offspring psychological functioning. The majority of studies, however, have examined this four-category parenting style typology in Western populations. We used the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) from the Philippines to assess associations between parenting styles reported by offspring at age 18 and depressive symptoms reported by offspring at age 21 ( N = 1,723). Using adjusted linear regression models, we found that authoritarian and neglectful mothering styles were positively associated with daughters' depressive symptoms, whereas authoritarian mothering was negatively associated with sons' depressive symptoms. Findings suggest both cross-cultural similarities and variability in positive parenting. Results may have implications for family-based depression prevention interventions in the Philippines.