The Dynamics of Family Relationship in Adolescent Drug Rehabilitation in a Chinese Context

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The Dynamics of Family Relationshipin Adolescent
Drug Rehabilitation in a Chinese Context

• Timothy SIM, Ph.D.
• Department of Social Work
• National University of Singapore

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Hong Kong Adolescent Drug Abuse and
Rehabilitation
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• Aim
• To map the impact of family relationship in
  adolescent drug rehabilitation

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• Research
• Question
• What are the salient
• aspects of family
• relationship in
• adolescent drug
• rehabilitation?

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Theoretical Framework

• Family systems theory
• Structural Family Therapy

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Research Paradigm

• Postpositivistic

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Multiple Methods
Integrating outside and inside perspective

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Data Analysis

• Family as a unit
• Comparison of means
• Content analysis

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Limitations

• Small and Convenient Sample
• Unclear Direction of Causality
• Lack Process and Observation Measures

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Participants Characteristics

• 34 families
• 91 participants
• 34 adolescents
• 32 mothers
• 25 fathers

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Participants Characteristics

• Male adolescents
• 19 years old, single
• completed 9 years of education
• lived with their parents
• in public and aided/rental flats
• Three quarters of the adolescents abstained

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Participants Characteristics

• Mothers
• 45 years old
• work in manual jobs
• full-time homemakers.
• Fathers
• 49, mostly hold manual jobs.

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Summary of Findings

• Four salient aspects
• positive emotional regard
• negative interaction
• positive interaction
• negative emotional regard
• at both pre-admission
• three-month after discharge.

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Summary of Findings

• At pre-admission
• negative interaction
• (e.g. conflict)
• negative emotional regard
• (e.g. tension)
• particularly between the adolescent and his
  parents

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Summary of Findings

• At pre-admission

No problem Highly concern Cordial Happy Loyal How dad relates to adolescent How adolescent relate to sibling Not fond of Quarrelsome Unmotivated Firm Poor How mom relates to dad
How mom relates to adolescent How mom relates to sibling How dad relates to sibling Very good Giving in With special effort Not quarrelsome Endearing How dad relates to mom How adolescent relates to mom How adolescent relates to dad Disloyal Unhappy Tense Uninvolved Problematic
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Summary of Findings

• At three-month after discharge
• family relationship of
• relapsed adolescents
• generally less favorable

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Summary of Findings

• Combined inside and outside perspectives
• Families with adolescent drug abuse generally
  poor in overall family functioning at
  pre-admission
• At three-month upon discharge, family functioning
  consistently improved when adolescents abstained

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Summary of Findings

• Surprise Findings
• Positive family interaction and positive
  emotional regard are present along with negative
  family interaction and negative emotional regard

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Rudimentary Model
Positive Interaction (Family Strength) Positive Interaction (Family Strength)
Positive Emotional Regard (Family Strength) Father-Mother Group Abstain-No-FT Group Abstain-With-FT Quadrant C (Soap opera) Quadrant D (Mime) Negative Emotional Regard (Family Stress)
Positive Emotional Regard (Family Strength) Quadrant A (Suspense Sequel) Mother-Adolescent Group A (Pre-Admission) Quadrant B (Wrestling Game) Father-Adolescent Group Relapse-No-FT Negative Emotional Regard (Family Stress)
Negative Interaction (Family Stress) Negative Interaction (Family Stress)
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Practice Implication

1. Improve Family Functioning
2. Cope with Family Stress
3. Build Family Strength
4. Engage Parents as Partners while recognizing the
   differential roles

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Research Implication

1. A Framework of Strength and Stress without Blame
2. Chinese Family Model in Adolescent Drug
   Rehabilitation
3. Expansion of Structural Family Therapy Model in
   Contemporary Chinese Context

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Recommendation

1. Interaction of Family Subsystems
2. Interaction of Family and Other Contextual
   Domains
3. Integration of Outside and Inside Perspectives
4. Understanding Family Dynamics in Relapse
   Situations

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Recommendation

1. Implementing Longitudinal Studies
2. Conducting Process Research in Chinese Families
3. Developing Family Typology in Adolescent Drug
   Rehabilitation
4. Understanding the Individual Functioning in
   Context

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Reflection

• When we answer some questions, we raise others.
  And no matter how well thought out we think our
  project is at the beginning, there always are
  those unanticipated twists and turns along the
  way that lead us to rethink our positions and
  question our methods and to let us know that we
  are not as smart as we think we are
• (Strauss Corbin, 1998, p. 55)

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Discussion

• Drawings of this presentation were downloaded
  from http//www.naivedrawing.com/drawingsmyfamily.
  htm