Each year, hundreds of thousands of families are challenged and distressed by a teenage family member's use of drugs. Parents, adolescent substance abusers, and other family members are caught in a desperate situation that may escalate into a major family crisis. While the availability of drugs and peer and cultural factors play a role, the drug abuse problem needs to be understood within the context of the family system and its interactions. Research shows that initial use of illicit drugs by youth is related to parent-child relationships: youth may use drugs to gain parental attention; parental absence, lack of parental closeness, parental unconventionality, maternal passivity, lack of parental closeness, and parental substance use all have been positively correlated with juvenile drug use. Other characteristics associated with youth drug abuse include less shared authority, poorer communication, perceived lack of parental love, less spontaneous problemsolving, and greater perceived peer than parental influence. Because of the role of the family, it is important that parents participate in treatment: family therapy has as good a chance as any other treatment approach of helping solve the adolescent's drug problem. 12 references.