Parents Know Best, But Are They Accurate? Parental Normative Misperceptions and Their Relationship to Students' Alcohol-Related Outcomes

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective: Parents often look to other parents for guidance, but how accurate are their perceptions? Expanding on existing normative literature to include parents of college students, this study fi rst sought to determine whether parents accurately estimated the attitudes of other parents concerning their college student's alcohol-related behaviors. The effect of these (mis)perceived injunctive norms on the alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors of the parents' own children was then examined. Method: Participants were 270 college student-parent dyadic pairs who completed independent online surveys. The student sample was 59% female; the parent sample was 78% female. Results: A structural equation model demonstrated that parents signifi cantly overestimated other parents' approval of alcohol use by their respective child and, further, that these misperceptions strongly infl uenced parental attitudes toward their own child's drinking. Parental attitudes were subsequently found to be signifi cantly associated with their child's attitudes toward drinking but were only marginally associated with the child's actual drinking, thereby underscoring the mediational effect of the child's attitudes. Conclusions: This is the fi rst study to document the infl uence of parental normative misperceptions regarding alcohol use by their college-age children, reinforcing the importance of parental attitudes on children's alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors in college. These fi ndings support the need to complement student-based interventions with parent-based interventions aimed at increasing parental awareness and involvement. Further, the current fi ndings indicate that normative interventions targeting parents offer a promising avenue by which to indirectly and positively infl uence college students' alcohol use. (J. Stud.

Normative feedback for parents of college students: Piloting a parent based intervention to correct misperceptions of students' alcohol use and other parents' approval of drinking

“…This finding is particularly significant given research that suggests that when parents’ perceive other parents’ to be more disapproving of alcohol, they are also likely to hold more disapproving attitudes towards alcohol, and that parents’ alcohol approval is associated with students attitudes and behaviors (LaBrie et al, 2011). Thus, using norms feedback to help correct parents’ misperceptions of other parents’ approval may indirectly reduce alcohol risk in college students.…”

“…Numerous studies have reported relationships between parental attitudes and beliefs and their college-aged children’s drinking (see Ryan, Jorm, & Lubman, 2010). Moreover, a growing body of research indicates that parents influence alcohol-related beliefs (LaBrie, Hummer, Lac, Ehret, & Kenney, 2011; Ryan et al, 2010; Turrisi, Wiersma, & Hughes, 2000) and moderate peer influences on alcohol use throughout the college years (Wood, Read, Mitchell, & Brand, 2004). Only during the past decade has research begun to examine the effectiveness of parent-based interventions (PBIs) among college students (Ichiyama et al, 2009; Turrisi, Jaccard, Taki, Dunnam, & Grimes, 2001; Turrisi et al, 2009; Wood et al, 2010).…”

“…LaBrie et al (2011) demonstrated that parents tend to overestimate other same-college parents’ approval of students engaging in drinking behaviors such as drinking underage and becoming intoxicated at a party. Further, parental misperceptions of other parents’ attitudes were strongly associated with parent’s own attitudes toward their child’s drinking, which, in turn, were associated with their child’s attitudes and drinking.…”

Providing Alcohol for Underage Youth: What Messages Should We Be Sending Parents?

“…Conversely, overestimation of other parents' approval of alcohol can strongly infl uence parental attitudes toward their own child's drinking. Misperceptions of other parental norms are associated with higher levels of parental and, subsequently, children's approval of adolescent alcohol use (LaBrie et al, 2011). One must consider parental provision of alcohol within the context of family infl uences, experiences, and expectations to inform research and the parents who look to empirical evidence for guidance.…”

Using Parental Profiles to Predict Membership in a Subset of College Students Experiencing Excessive Alcohol Consequences: Findings From a Longitudinal Study

“…The majority of studies investigating parenting and college student drinking have almost uniformly focused on relations between one or two parenting variables and drinking-related outcomes across the sample (LaBrie et al, 2011;Morgan-Lopez, 2009a, 2009b;Turner et al, 2000;Wood et al, 2004). Several recent studies have explored the benefi ts of person-centered approaches, which can identify parental subgroups that are homogeneous but distinct from other subgroups along multiple dimensions of parenting (positive communication, negative communication, monitoring, approval of alcohol use, modeling of alcohol use).…”