Rejection attitudes, poor parental bonding, and stressful life events in heroin addicts' families.

Background: The influence of family factors on the development and/or on maintenance of heroin addiction still remains unclear.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate family factors, which might be associated with heroin addiction in a sample of male individuals.

Methods: A group of 40 heroin addicts' families was compared with a group of 17 families with a member presenting schizophrenia and a group of 27 families with mentally healthy members in regard to (1) parents' rejection attitudes toward their adult child, (2) quality of parental bond, as perceived by the adult child, and (3) stressful life events in the nuclear family.