Comparison between the personality traits of the parents with children addicted to methamphetamines and that of the parents of the healthy children

The relationship between parental personality disorders and child tendency to substance abuse is ambiguous. The present study aimed to assess the personality traits of the parents with children addicted to methamphetamines compared to parents of healthy children. This cross-sectional comparative study was performed on 36 parents of children using methamphetamine who referred to three addiction treatment clinics under the supervision of psychiatrists in Tehran. Also, 36 parents of children without substance abuse were selected from available relatives of the patients as the control group. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III) was used to assess personality traits. In comparison with personality traits between mothers of diseased and healthy children, obsessive-compulsive personality trait was more observed in mothers with healthy children, but avoidant, depressive, antisocial, sadistic, negative, masochistic, schizotypal, borderline, and paranoid traits were more prevalent in mothers with affected children. Similar comparison of personality traits between fathers of the affected and healthy participants showed that obsessive-compulsive trait was more frequent in fathers with healthy children while avoidant, depressive, dependent, antisocial, sadistic, negative, masochistic, schizotypal, borderline, and paranoid personalities were more prevalent in mothers of diseased children. The presence of personality disorders in parents can potentially increase the likelihood of misusing methamphetamines among children. © 2018, Advanced Scientific Research. All rights reserved