Abstract:
The general objective of this study was to investigate perceived parenting styles and substance
use among adolescent students in some selected secondary schools of Harari regional state . To
realize this, explanatory sequential research design was employed. The quantitative data were
collected through questionnaire and qualitative data were collected through interview. The
researcher collected quantitative data from randomly selected three schools of 318 adolescents.
The qualitative data were collected from purposively selected three schools principals, six
students and three parent committees. Descriptive statistics like frequencydistributions mean
and percentages were used and inferential statistics particularly binary logistic regression and
Spearman correlation were used to analyze the collected quantitative data using SPSS software
version 20. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The result shows that
the most predominantly parenting style related with substance abuse among adolescents was
neglectful parenting style. Regarding the relationships between the parenting styles and
adolescents’ substance use, the authoritative and permissive parenting styles were significant
negative predictors of substance abuse. This suggests that when adolescents grow up in
authoritative and permissive parenting styles, their chance to substance use decrease. Besides,
there is a significant positive relationship between authoritarian and neglectful parenting styles
and adolescents’ substance use. This suggests that when adolescents grow up under
authoritarian and neglectful parenting styles, their chances of being addicted to substances
high. Finally, the more protective parenting style against the substance abuse of adolescents
was authoritative parenting style. The researcher recommended that parents should participate
in discussion and negotiation to find an agreeable solution to their children's misbehavior rather
than imposing strong and punishing discipline. Parents should follow up their adolescents’ day
today social relation with their friends. The school should discuss about substance abuse with
the family of adolescents. Furthermore, the school should collaborate with the local police
commission to control cultivation, trafficking, and consumption of khat, marijuana and alcohol
in the school and community
