Parents' Personality Disorders as Predictor of Substance Use Disorder in Children and Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated how the parents' personality disorders may be related to substance use disorder in children and adolescents. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional study in which 28,540 children and adolescents (aged 6 to 18 years) and their parents participated between 2015 and 2016. The diagnosis of substance use was made using the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia--Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) interview and the personality disorders were assessed using Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory - Third Edition (MCMI-III). The parents were also surveyed for their personality assessed with MCMI. RESULTS: The results showed that the paranoid personality disorder in father (odds ratio [OR] = 8.34, 95% CI, P = 0.042) and borderline personality disorder in mother (OR = 4.6, 95% CI, P = 0.049) increase the chance of substance use in children. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that in designing preventive programs for substance use, the personality characteristics of the parents need to be taken into account.

The Effectiveness of Group Family Training About the Principles of Harm Reduction Approach on Marital Satisfaction of Spouses of Patients Under Methadone Maintenance Treatment.

One of the most important problems in treatment of drug dependence is the cooperation of the patient's family. Many families do not look at drug dependence as a chronic and relapsing disorder and expect a quick and definite recovery of the disease. These families, including wives, are unfamiliar with the concept of harm reduction as a realistic approach. The aim of this study was to educate the spouses of patients undergoing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) on the different aspects of harm reduction approach and assess the impact of this training on marital satisfaction and relapse rate. This study was a pretest-posttest study with control group. The sample consisted of 50 MMT patients and their wives in private methadone maintenance treatment clinics in the city of Bojnurd, located in the northeastern region of Iran. The experimental group received eight group training sessions run by a psychiatrist. The content of the training sessions was based on harm reduction programs for families of patients with high-risk behaviors. Two groups are compared in terms of marital satisfaction and relapse rate. A paired t test was used to compare changes before and after the training. The results of this study showed that harm reduction education and efforts for changing wives' views toward MMT are effective in increasing their marital satisfaction. However, the conducted training showed no effect on relapse rate in the six-month follow-up. Regarding the fact that this type of training has not been paid enough attention in the national protocol, the proposed training program of this research can be considered in MMT clinics.

The Effectiveness of Group Assertiveness Training on Happiness in Rural Adolescent Females With Substance Abusing Parents.

BACKGROUND: Parental substance abuse confronts children with a variety of psychological, social, and behavioral problems. Children of substance abusing parents show higher levels of psychiatric disorders including anxiety and depression and exert lower levels of communication skills. Weak social skills in this group of adolescents put them at a higher risk for substance abuse. Many studies showed school based interventions such as life skill training can effective on future substance abusing in these high risk adolescences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The participants consisted of 57 middles schools girls, all living in rural areas and having both parents with substance dependency. The participants were randomly assigned to intervention (n=28) and control (n=29) groups. The data were collected before and six weeks after training in both group. The intervention group received eight sessions of group assertiveness training. Participants were compared in terms of changes in scores on the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the Gambrills-Richey Assertion Inventory. RESULTS: The total score for happiness change from 43.68 ±17.62 to 51.57 ±16.35 and assertiveness score changed from 110.33±16.05 to 90.40±12.84. There was a significant difference in pretest-posttest change in scores for intervention (7.89±4.13) and control (-2.51±2.64) groups; t (55) =2.15, p = 0.049. These results suggest that intervention really does have an effect on happiness and assertiveness. CONCLUSION: Determining the effectiveness of these school based interventions on other life aspects such as substance abuse calls for further study on these rural adolescent girls.

Personality Traits and Identity Styles in Methamphetamine-Dependent Women: A Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND: Studies over the past two decades have shown that various personality traits of substance-dependent men measure differently than compared to normal individuals. However fewer studies have addressed the role of identity as an influential factor in the onset and continuation of drug dependency. METHODS: The objective of this study was to compare the Big Five personality factors and identity styles in methamphetamine dependent women and non-user group. Forty eight methamphetamine dependent women under treatment in Welfare Organization's residential centers filled out the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the Berzonsky's Identity Style Inventory. They were compared with 48 non-dependent women who were matched in terms of age, education, marital status, and occupation. Data was analyzed with t student test. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS V.16 software. Differences were considered significant at P<0.05. RESULTS: Results found that methamphetamine dependent woman had significantly higher levels of neuroticism and lower levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience compared to normative sample of female respondents .In addition, mean scores of diffuse/avoidant identity style in methamphetamine user women was significantly higher than non-user group. This is while non-user women had a significantly higher mean in normative identity style. CONCLUSION: Identity styles along with personality traits can be a key role in drug use in women in this study. Therefore, enhancing understanding about the role of identity can be helpful in treatment programs especially in harm reduction approaches.

Prevalence of internet addiction and associated factors among medical students from mashhad, iran in 2013.

BACKGROUND: Problematic internet use is on the increase and has caused serious problems in many areas. This issue seems to be more important for medical students. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to explore the prevalence of internet addiction and its related factors among the students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted on 383 medical students of Mashhad in 2013. Four hundred participants were selected through two-stage stratified sampling method proportional to the number of students in each stage of education. Data Collection was done through using the Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) and a checklist of demographic details and characteristics of internet usage behavior. RESULTS: It was found that 2.1% of the studied population were at risk and 5.2% were addicted users. Chatting with new people, communicating with friends and families, and playing games were the most popular activities in these groups. The factors related to internet addiction included: male sex, stage of education, daily time spent on using internet, most frequent time of internet use, monthly cost of use, and tea consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Although our study showed the prevalence of internet addiction was not more than other populations and universities, since the prevalence of internet addiction is rapidly increasing worldwide, this population might also be at risk of addiction. Thus, focusing on related factors can help us in designing more effective interventions and treatments for this susceptible group.