A multimethod analysis of families with a polydrug-dependent or normal adolescent daughter

We compared behavioral interactions and perceived relationships in families of drug-dependent and normal adolescent girls. A total of 29 family triads including father, mother, and teenage daughter participated. L. S. Benjamin's (1974) structural analysis of social behavior model and methodology were used to code videotaped interactions and to rate self and other in perceived relationships. Observations of parental behavior toward their daughters did differentiate families of drug abusers from control families, but daughters' behavior did not. Parents communicated a conflictual message of both greater affirmation and condemnation of their daughter's autonomy. Both parents and daughters in the drug-dependent group blamed the daughters, despite their actual behavior, for the family's problems. The findings are interpreted as consistent with social-developmental and psychoanalytic theories of adolescent substance abuse as derailed individuation from the family.