Positive family relationships and religious affiliation as mediators between negative environment and illicit drug symptoms in American Indian adolescents

The present study tests how positive family relationships and religious affiliation mediate between negative familial and social environments, and adolescent illicit drug abuse/dependence symptoms. The theoretical framework is based on an integration of two theories: the ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and the social development model (Hawkins & Weis, 1985). We used a stratified random sample of 401 American Indian adolescents. A path analysis tested the integrative theoretical model. Findings showed that positive family relationships mediated the negative impact of addicted family members, violence victimization, and negative school environment on illicit drug abuse/dependence symptoms. Religious affiliation mediated the negative effect of deviant peers on positive family relationships. Intervention and prevention efforts may benefit from promoting positive family relationships and religious affiliation to reduce the impact of complex familial and social problems on illicit drug symptoms.