Parental rearing and individual vulnerability to drug addiction: a controlled study in a Swedish sample

In a convenience sample of 81 healthy subjects vs. a group of 81 heroin addicts from the Methadone program in Stockholm, Sweden, the hypothesis of a possible link between experiences of dysfunctional parental rearing and the subsequent development of dysfunctional assumptions concerning self and others was tested. The subjects (n=162) completed the EMBU to report perceptions of parental rearing behaviour, two measures of dysfunctional assumptions and dysfunctional working models, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) and the DWM-S, and the Screening Drug Career Questionnaire (SDCQ) for assessing different aspects of the drug career in the sample of addicts. Four predictions were made: 1) parental emotional warmth should be negatively correlated with DAS and DWM-S scores; 2) experiences of dysfunctional parental rearing activities should be correlated with high scores on the DAS and the DWM-S; 3) there should be significant differences between the group of addicts and the control group on the EMBU first-order factors Rejection, Emotional warmth, Overprotection, and on the EMBU midparent subscale and finally 4) the results should support the hypothesis of an overprotecting mother and a rejecting father. The four predictions were supported by the results. The inter-group differences in quality of rearing shown in this study support the assumption of the impact of parental rearing on the development of dysfunctional working models of self and others. Accordingly, the presented data confirm that a parental rearing behaviour perceived both as Rejecting and Overprotective represents a link between dysfunctional parenting and the development of maladaptive psychosocial behaviour like drug addiction.