According to family-systems theory, for example, the troubled adolescent is a family member who displays risk-taking behaviors such as drug use and unsafe sexual activity that reflect, at least in part, what else is going on in the family system
(Szapocznik & Kurtines, 1989).
As such, the adolescent’s behavior can be said to reflect maladaptive family interactions. We define maladaptive interactions as those exchanges in which the family repeatedly engages in the intent to achieve a certain outcome (e.g.,
eliminate adolescent drug use), but that continue to be used, despite clear evidence that these interactions do not work.