WHAT DO TEENAGERS PARENTS KNOW ABOUT DRUG USE AND HOW DO THEY UNDERSTAND PREVENTING IT?

Abstract

Introduction On one hand, drug use has become an extremely welcomed subject
because it „needs to be”, and because it has to be treated seriously; on the other
hand, it is addressed to with great ignorance among all the actors directly involved
in handling this phenomenon. The problem of drug use, with all the dimensions of
it, must take care of this behavior and it can be classified as mental health
problems, which will have multiple consequences for their care in the health
plan. Literature has already become a classic, such as Learning Theories
(Bandura, 1986, Skinnere, Thorndike, etc.), Family-Based Theories and Systemic
Approach (Waldrom, 1998), and more recent works by Stephen J. Bahr, John P.
Hoffmann, Xiaoyan Yang, stresses the role of the family in building child
protection factors for substance use.

Purpose. The purpose of this research is to investigate
the parents of the high school students in Arad Municipality regarding the
information they have about drugs, their perception related to their child's
relationship with drugs and how they "treat" this topic.
Design The qualitative information we want to obtain has imposed a specific
design for qualitative research. The study is descriptive and has a practical
orientation- it was carried out between June and September 2019.
Methodology We have created 8 focus groups with parents of high school
students with different demographic characteristics (level of education, religion,
provenance, family status) and we have made 3 profound interviews for each
category of people we have selected.

Results This paper presents the preliminary qualitative results of a study that is still in progress. The focus groups carried out indicates that the vast majority of parents treat this topic of consumption
superficially. Their parenting principle is based on building a strong, positive and
open relationship, but the child is a fundamental premise in preventing any deviat
behavior. But they have as a parenting principle that to build a strong positive, open and
dialogue relationship, but the child, which is a fundamental premise in preventing
any deviant behavior.

Originality and Limitations The originality of this study and why it was realised is due
to the lack of information upon this subject, at least in this city, Arad, and the main
limitations consit in the imposibility of generating the conclusions regarding the
whole population concerned.