Attitudes and experience of youth and their parents with psychiatric medication and relationship to self-reported adherence

Few studies have directly examined the interrelationship of teen and parent attitudes toward psychiatric medication and how this relates to medication adherence. In the current study, survey data from 19 parent-child dyads were analyzed to investigate the relationship of parent and teen attitudes toward medication, decision self-efficacy, and current involvement in decisions about psychiatric medication with self-reported adherence. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to fit actor-partner interdependence models to examine bidirectional effects of the dyadic relationships. Teens and parents had similarly positive attitudes toward medication, high levels of self-efficacy and self-reported adherence. Current involvement in decisions about medications was significantly lower for teens compared to their parents. The actor-partner interdependence models revealed that parent levels of decision self-efficacy were related to youth self-reported adherence (partner effect). Youth attitudes toward medications were related to youth self-reported adherence (actor effect). Parent and teen actor effects of decisional self-efficacy were significantly associated with current involvement. Providers need to be aware of the importance of engaging both teens and parents in decisions about psychiatric medication and recognize the need to explicitly elicit questions and concerns from young patients.