Veerkragtigheidskenmerke van gesinne met 'n adolessente middelmisbruiker

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Families are often confronted with some type of crisis during their family life cycle, and thepresence of an adolescent substance abuser in the family could result in a family crisis. Moststudies focus on the negative implications of substance abuse (Flisher, Parry, Evans, Muller,& Lombard, 2003; Parry et al., 2004). More recently, however, researchers have begun tomove away from the pathogenic approach to a more strengths-based approach. Therefore theaim of this study was to investigate which factors are associated with family resilience infamilies with an adolescent substance abuser. Given the complexity of resilience, theResiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (McCubbin & McCubbin,1988) was operationalised in this study to identify which variables could be associated withfamily resilience. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gatherdata from a convenience sample of 50 families drawn from the Western Cape, South Africa.In order to control for gender effects, mothers who had in their families an adolescentsubstance abuser were encouraged to represent their respective families. A biographicalquestionnaire and seven quantitative self-report questionnaires were completed by eachparticipant. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated for the quantitative data inorder to determine which independent variables (family factors) were associated with thedependent variable (family adaptation). A best-subsets multiple regression analysis was doneto determine the linear combination of family characteristics (indicators) that correlatesmaximally with family adaptation (outcome variable). Thematic analysis was used to identifypatterns or themes within the qualitative data during the qualitative data analysis. The results indicate that the level of family adaptation is better the higher the supportive patterns ofcommunication in the family unit; and that the level of family adaptation is lower the morenegative communication patterns are present. The results also indicate that family hardiness,the degree to which families use problem-solving and behaviour strategies during crises, and the use and maintenance of different routines and activities facilitate family adaptation. Thequalitative results indicate that spirituality or religion, support from extended family, friendsor neighbours, clear positive family communication, maintaining hope and a positive outlook,and the acceptance of the adolescent as part of the family contribute the most to familyadaptation. The findings of this study could be used to improve the understanding of qualitiesthat help families to adapt, and interventions and services based on these results may providea meaningful contribution in the adaptation of families who find themselves in similarsituations. This study not only is important to broaden the current literature on familyresilience in this development phase, but also to help fill the void in current research.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University