The Impact of Parental Absence on Substance Use and Psychological Adjustment among Young Adults in Hayat Abad Peshawar

Abstract

This research was conducted to explore the relationship between parental absence; Substance Use and psychological adjustment. The sample comprised of young adult students studying at various universities located in Hayatabad, Peshawar. 150 university students, 75 males and 75 Females were recruited for the present study. Data were collected through Shah and Qureshi Father Involvement Scale, Drug Abuse Screening Test, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. The results show strong positive correlations between all three variables. SQFI is highly correlated with both DASS and DAST (r = .828, p < .01), indicating that as SQFI scores increase, DASS and DAST scores also tend to increase. Similarly, DASS and DAST are strongly correlated (r = .90, p < .01), suggesting they may be measuring highly overlapping or identical constructs. All correlations are statistically significant at the 0.01 level, meaning the relationships are unlikely due to chance. These findings imply a strong interrelationship among the psychological measures examined. The findings of this study highlight the important effects of parental absence on the use of psychoactive substances and psychological adaptation in young people. Results show that those who have experienced long absences of one or both parents in childhood or adolescence are more likely to participate in the use of psychoactive substances as a mechanism to overcome.