Parenting styles, peer influence and substance use among adolescents in Wakiso District, Kakiri Division

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parenting styles, peer influence and substance use among adolescents in Wakiso district, Kakiri division. A random sampling strategy was used to select 201 adolescents from two secondary schools and data was collected using the Parental Authority questionnaire, the Peer Influence & Conformity scale and the Substance Use scale. A correlation research design was employed and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to test the first three study hypotheses while process macro was used in testing the fourth hypotheses. The outcomes of this study indicated that parenting styles in particular authoritarian (r = -.193, p<0.05) and authoritative (r = -.230, p<0.05) were significantly related to substance use while the permissiveness parenting style was not significantly related to substance use (r = .036, p>0.05), results further indicated that, parenting styles particularly authoritarian (r = -.158, p<0.05) and authoritative (r = -.319, p<0.05) were significantly related to peer influence while the permissiveness parenting style was not significantly related to peer influence (r = .037, p>0.05) while, peer influence was significantly related to substance use (r = .706, p<0.05) among adolescents. However, the results of this study showed that peer influence, as a mediating variable, did not mediate the relationship between parenting styles and substance use (R2 = .56, p <0.05) among adolescents. In conclusion, the findings suggest that adolescent substance use persists irrespective of parental approach or peer influence. Given this, it's crucial for interventions to focus on equipping adolescents with coping strategies and resilience-building techniques to navigate these challenges effectively.