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Families of Adolescent Drug Abusers Are “Rigid”: Are These Families Either “Disengaged” or “Enmeshed,” or Both?
Author(s) -
FRIEDMAN ALFRED S.,
UTADA ARLENE,
MORRISSEY MARGARET R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1987.00131.x
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , cohesion (chemistry) , drug abuser , developmental psychology , substance abuse , rating scale , social psychology , psychotherapist , chemistry , organic chemistry , neuroscience
The FACES instrument, based on Olson's Circumplex Model of family functioning, was administered to 96 adolescent drug‐abuse clients and their parents. The majority of these families categorized themselves as “disengaged” (rather than “enmeshed) on the cohesion dimension, and as “rigid” (rather than “chaotic”) on the adaptability dimension. These findings were unexpected as they were substantially different from published findings on families with other types of problems. Family therapists, utilizing Olson's Clinical Rating Scale for the Circumplex Model, characterized significantly more of these same families as “enmeshed,” rather than “disengaged.” rather than “disengaged.” Possible explanations for the difference between the therapists' perceptions and the families' self‐perceptions are discussed.