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PREDICTORS OF SUBSTANCE USE AND FAMILY THERAPY OUTCOME AMONG PHYSICALLY AND SEXUALLY ABUSED RUNAWAY ADOLESCENTS
Author(s) -
Slesnick Natasha,
BartleHaring Suzanne,
Gangamma Rashmi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2006.tb01606.x
Subject(s) - family therapy , substance abuse , substance use , psychology , clinical psychology , intervention (counseling) , sexual abuse , family systems theory , child abuse , differential effects , poison control , psychiatry , suicide prevention , medicine , developmental psychology , medical emergency
There is a dearth of research that examines the impact of family systems therapy on problems among sexually and/or physically abused youth. Given this void, differential outcome and predictors of substance use change were evaluated for abused, as compared with nonabused, runaway adolescents who were randomly assigned to family therapy or treatment as usual. Abused adolescents reported lower family cohesion at baseline, although both abused and nonabused adolescents showed similar substance use reductions. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, we found that substance use changed with change in cohesion over time. These findings link change in family functioning to change in adolescent substance use, supporting family systems theory. Findings suggest that a potent target of intervention involves focus on increasing positive communication interactions.