With societal development, the global drug dependency crisis has intensified. By 2022, the number of patients affected had reached 292 million, making a 20 % increase over the past decade (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2024). The emergence of new drugs, alongside traditional substances, has exacerbated the global drug dependency crisis (United National Office on Drugs and Crime, 2024, Peacock et al., 2019). These substances pose significant health risks, including mental illness, organ damage, and infectious disease transmission (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2024; Ekhtiari et al., 2020), alongside broader socio-economic impacts such as family disruption and increased crime (Muir et al., 2023, Cogo-Moreira et al., 2023). In China, despite the strict legal prohibitions, new drug dependency has continued to rise, with 896,000 individuals impacted towards the end of 2023 (China Drug Crime and Countermeasure Research Center, 2024). The extensive misuse of such drugs as ketamine and unregulated chemicals such as etomidate highlights the urgent need to develop targeted interventions (Yang, 2024). To stem the outbreak, one needs to have effective knowledge about the psychological as well as the social determinants of new drug addiction, especially in such vulnerable populations.

Young and middle-aged individuals have the greatest chances of developing new drug dependency. They are easily susceptible to such addictions due to certain factors like significant life stress, curiosity, and complex social relationships (Wang & Tan, 2024). Due to the incomplete maturation of their emotional regulation and behavioral control systems, such individuals tend to get dysregulated in these areas, which exposes them to impulsivity and risk-taking, including drug use (Alexandre et al., 2020). The impacts of new drugs on such population are overwhelming because they are at the vulnerable stage of their lives and have important roles in families as well as in society (Hutchison et al., 2016, Infurna et al., 2020). These findings underscore the critical need to undertake targeted research into the related psychological processes and risk pathways to new drug dependency in young and middle adulthood.

Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct that plays a key role in the etiology of substance use disorders. It refers to the inclination to react quickly and thoughtlessly in response to internal or external stimuli, irrespective of the potential negative consequences such actions may have either on oneself or others (Moeller et al., 2001). It typically leads to reckless or risky behavior. Empirical observations have consistently demonstrated that impulsivity is one of the causative factors of risky behaviors, including drug dependency (Johnson et al., 2020). Impulsive individuals have a higher susceptibility to developing abuse and dependency on new drugs, primarily due to their increased emotional responsivity, poorer persistence and planning capacity, as well as preference for immediate rewards over long-term outcomes (Vassileva & Conrod, 2019). Neurobiologically, impulsivity is primarily regulated by neural regions such as the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex (Guzulaitis & Palmer, 2023), which can be affected by new drugs. Altered brain function and structure, with impairment in various biomarkers, like dopamine, have been implicated in enhancing impulsivity (Abdullah, 2022). Furthermore, impulsive actions may yield to compulsive ones, which are in turn able to drive impulsivity (Belin-Rauscent et al., 2016). These are likely to blend with such psychopathology as depression and bipolar disorder, making intervention all the more difficult. Therefore, a deeper understanding of impulsivity is critical to inform the prevention and treatment of new drug dependency populations. For measuring impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) is well-established, and comprises three domains: nonplanning, motor, and attentional (Patton et al., 1995). Its widespread use and strong psychometric properties make it particularly suitable for capturing multidimensional aspects of impulsivity in both clinical and research settings.

To understand the development of impulsivity and new drug dependency as the consequence of childhood adversity, the General Strain Theory has provided a theoretical framework (Agnew, 1992). According to this theory, individuals who have been exposed to chronic stressors, such as abuse experiences or family disharmony, are prone to persistent negative states. When left unresolved, chronic stressors lead to maladaptive coping strategies, including impulsive acts and drug abuse, which are also closely linked to higher cravings and relapse among patients (Mantsch et al., 2016). From this perspective, early adversities are not merely contextual factors, but also critical causes of emotional dysregulation that can shape behavioral trajectories over time (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2024). Based on this theory, parenting style and childhood abuse can represent key indicators for exploring the development of impulsivity among patients with new drug dependency.

Parenting styles, according to Bowen Family Systems Theory, have a strong influence on building children for their lifespan. Parents' four diverse child-rearing attitudes of authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful/uninvolved have a direct impact on children's character and behavior (Levin & E, 2011). Authoritative parenting is characterized by high emotional support and responsible behavioral guidance, linking to better behavioral regulation (Dionisi & Dupré, 2023). However, authoritarian parenting is characterized by extreme strictness with low emotional warmth, which may lead to low self-confidence in children, increasing their desire to express themselves and thus heightening impulsivity. It is directly associated with adverse outcomes for children (Schneider & Schenck-Fontaine, 2022). Neglectful parenting, due to a lack of basic education and care, is strongly associated with abuse and can easily lead to behavioral problems and emotional disorders (Chaiyachati and Gur, 2021, Bounoua and Sadeh, 2022). Individuals raised in these poor parentings are more likely to be impulsive and misues substance (Calafat et al., 2014), possibly due in part to the chronic stress associated with dysfunctional family dynamics.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), childhood abuse includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation (WHO, 2024). These experiences, which lead to chronic stress, can severely impact psychiatric health and disrupt brain development (Alkema et al., 2024, Teicher and Samson, 2016). These types often occur together, with emotional abuse being the most common (Zhang et al., 2022). Such abuse can result in a lack of self-compassion and negative thinking, which can lead to persistent shame and depressive symptoms that can cause long-term harm (Kwok et al., 2022). The relationship between abuse and impulsivity involves several mechanisms: First, abuse interferes with brain development, especially in regions involved in emotional processing, causing changes in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala (Stenson & Jovanovic, 2021). Second, child maltreatment leads to chronic stress, affects the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and increases vulnerability to mental health problems and impulse control disorders, thereby raising the risk of drug dependency, suicide, and other risky behaviors (Schär et al., 2022). In addition, negative social traits, like social anxiety and avoidant behaviors, facilitate the occurrence of maltreated individuals seeking immediate gratification and engaging in delinquent peer relationships, including substance abuse (Liu et al., 2023; Haslam & Taylor, 2022). Hence, the impact of parenting styles and childhood abuse on vulnerable groups is critical to consider.

To investigate the effect of such factors, network analysis (NA) is a powerful statistical tool (Epskamp et al., 2018). Methodologically, NA has the singular strength of conceptualizing psychological constructs as network systems of interacting elements in place of isolated variables (Borsboom et al., 2021). NA shows a graphical system with nodes representing study factors and edges representing relationships, thereby easily tracing each indicator's unique role (Epskamp & Fried, 2018). It also offers useful insights regarding intervention targets from the determination of centrality and bridge centrality. Guided by the General Strain Theory, the present study employed NA to examine the effects of parenting styles and childhood abuse on impulsivity among young and middle-aged patients with new drug dependency. By identifying central and bridge nodes, the valuable path to alleviating chronic stress is expected to be clear. The results may support the creation of effective prevention and intervention strategies, along with recommendations to enhance family-based education and social services to prevent drug dependency.