Shared Households in the U.S.: A New Perspective on Family Structure and Adolescent Substance Use

Abstract

Research on the family structure–adolescent substance use association has largely neglected shared households—those in which non-parent adult figures live in the home—even though the number of these households has increased substantially in the U.S. Using data from the state of Florida, we assessed the association between several shared household structures and adolescent substance use, along with whether their associations were mediated by parent-child relationship quality or parental monitoring/discipline. Adolescents in shared family households, especially when a parent did not reside in the home, manifested a higher odds of marijuana use and vaping than those in two-parent households. Monitoring/discipline partly mediated the household structure effects, suggesting that engaging in high levels of monitoring can lower the risk of substance use even in families without two parents.