Family Skills Training for Parents of High-risk Adolescents: Prevention of Substance Abuse and Problem Behaviors

In the first year program, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate the needs for parent education. In the first year program (2002/08~2003/07), thirty high-risk students, their parents, and teachers from a junior high school were interviewed to collect qualitative data regarding parenting problems, needs for parent education, and related resources.

In addition, structured questionnaires were used to collect data on parenting style, family relationship, communication skills, and adolescents’ substance abuse and problem behaviors. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed to get a whole picture of the needs for parent education among the parents of high-risk students. The main findings were as follows: (1) Most high-risk students and their parents indicated that they needed to learn more about parent education.