The effect of parental drinking on alcohol use in young adults: the mediating role of parental monitoring and peer deviance

Abstract

Background/Aims Evidence demonstrating an association between parental alcohol use and offspring alcohol use from robust prospective studies is lacking. We tested the direct and indirect associations between parental and young adult alcohol use via early alcohol initiation, parental monitoring and associating with deviant peers. Design Prospective birth cohort study. Path analysis was used to assess the possible association between parental alcohol use (assessed at 12 years) and alcohol use in young adults (assessed at 18 years) via potential mediators (assessed at 14 and 15.5 years, respectively). Setting SW England. Participants Data were available on 3,785 adolescents and their parents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Measurements The continuous AUDIT score was used as the primary outcome measure. Maternal alcohol use was defined as light (<4 units on any day), moderate (≥4 units on 1–3 days), and high-risk (≥4 units on ≥4 days in one-week). Partner alcohol use was also defined as light, moderate and high-risk. Socioeconomic variables were included as covariates. Findings There was strong evidence of a total effect from maternal alcohol use to young adult alcohol use (moderate: b=1.07, 95% CI=.64, 1.49, p<.001; high-risk: b=1.71, 95% CI=1.07, 2.35, p<.001). The majority of this association was explained through early alcohol initiation (moderate: b=0.14, 95% CI=.04, .25, p=.01; high-risk: b=0.24, 95% CI=.07, .40, p<.01), and early alcohol initiation/associating with deviant peers (moderate: b=0.06, 95% CI=.02, .10, p<.01; high-risk: b=0.10, 95% CI=.03, .16, p<.01). There was strong evidence of a remaining direct effect (moderate: b=0.81, 95% CI=.39, 1.22, p<.001; high-risk: b=1.28, 95% CI=.65, 1.91, p<.001). A similar pattern of results was evident for partner alcohol use. Conclusions Young adults whose parents have moderate or high risk alcohol consumption are more likely to consume alcohol than those with parents with lower alcohol consumption. This association appears to be partly accounted for by earlier alcohol use initiation and higher prevalence of association with deviant peers.

Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use by Parents and Adolescents in the US

“…Parental smoking, alcohol use, and marijuana use are associated with increased use of the same drugs by offspring. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The intergenerational transmission of nonmedical prescription opioid (NMPO) use from parent to child has not previously been examined. The role of the family in adolescent NMPO use has been inferred from the finding that onethird of youth report that a family member was the source of their prescription opioids.…”

Factors Associated with Crack Cocaine Early Initiation: A Brazilian Multicentric Study

“…Peer pressure is certainly one of the most striking in uences, especially when it appears predominantly in the social repertoire of the individual. Its magnitude gains de nitive contours from late adolescence (15 years), weakening after adulthood 14,35,40 . In the present study, the predominance of alcohol and drunkenness, marijuana and crack use among the participants' friends was related to the early onset of crack use.…”

“…Longitudinal studies with psychoactive substances have shown that the earlier the age of onset of consumption -beginning with alcohol and tobacco -the greater the likelihood to develop addiction to this substance, more serious consumption patterns and more problematic deviant behaviors 12,13 . Detaching the risk factors related to the age of onset of consumption allows not only environmental assessment for prevention strategies as well as speci c control strategies, both of them based on scienti cally based information 14 .…”

“…In addition, the perception of access is strongly related to the risk of starting the use of legal or illegal psychoactive substances 22 . The parent use of drugs and family con icts also appear to be associated with future problematic behaviors 14,23,24 , as well as the interaction peer pressure 16 . The Brazilian National Survey of Crack Cocaine Users 25 found that the reasons that led half of the sample of Brazilians to use crack for the rst time were curiosity (58.3%) followed by family con icts (29.2%) and in uence of friends (26.7%).…”

“…Considering the protective factors, studies with adolescent alcohol users indicate that parents who monitor their children's routine and disapprove drug use function as protective factors during adolescence for both: early onset and binge drinking 18,26,27 . In contrast, parents who drink or are permissive in relation to drug use, leave their children more vulnerable to early onset of substance use 14,15,16,17 .…”