Relationships among the personal fable, drug use and parental monitoring in adolescents and young adults

Relationships among the personal fable, drug use and parental monitoring in adolescents and young adults were tested in this study. Participants were 56 students, with 25 from a small, suburban area in southern Michigan, and 32 from West Virginia University (87.5 % female, 94.6% Caucasian). Participants completed questionnaires about demographics, the personal fable, parental monitoring and drug use in an online survey. Results showed that there was a negative correlation between parental monitoring and youth drug use, but no correlation between the personal fable and drug use. There was some evidence that the personal fable had a moderated effect on lifetime drug use via parental monitoring. Youth with parents that have more knowledge of their activities and whereabouts tended to be less likely to engage in lifetime and recent drug use, while youths\u27 feelings of being invulnerable and special was not related to their drug use. Moreover, there is a hint that parents\u27 knowledge can serve to moderate the effect of the personal fable in predicting youths\u27 lifetime drug use