Perceived Parental Knowledge and Adolescent Substance Use Outcomes

Abstract

BACKGROUND Whether parental permission of alcohol and other drug use in a home environment is protective against substance‐related negative outcomes remains controversial. We investigated substance use at home, with or without parental knowledge, and its association with substance‐related consequences. METHODS The sample consisted of 21,207 U.S. students in the 6th to 12th grades surveyed between 2009 and 2017. Substance use patterns and rates of negative outcomes were analyzed by comparing groups of participants who had not used at home, or had used at home with and/or without parental knowledge. RESULTS Adolescents who used substances at home without parental knowledge used alcohol and substances in greater amounts, and tended to have more negative outcomes than those who did not. Students who had not used at home or had used only with parental knowledge tended to have lower levels of use and negative outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Using at home without parental knowledge was a consistent risk factor for substance‐related negative outcomes. These results highlight the importance of screening adolescents for the use of alcohol or drugs in the home without parental knowledge, as well as attempting to prevent substance use in the household.

Parental support and monitoring as associated with adolescent alcohol and tobacco use by gender and age

“…While gender differences were not observed in this study, a significant interaction effect was found for support by age group in three of four outcomes, favoring older participants. It has been well established that parental monitoring and parental support are protective factors against substance use outcomes among teens and adolescents, [ 1 – 3 ] and our study arrived at those conclusions as well. However, this study also found that parental support is an even stronger protective factor against substance use for older adolescents than it is for younger adolescents.…”

“…Our findings demonstrate that the protective effect of parental support on adolescent experimentation with tobacco and alcohol is even greater as they move into high school, a period associated with more independence and opportunities to participate in risk behavior [ 56 ]. While parental monitoring has long been regarded as an important protective factor for adolescent substance use, [ 1 , 10 ] our observation indicates that parental support may grow in importance in preventing substance use among this population. The importance of parental support as children age may be an important aspect to investigate in future studies.…”

“…Similar to parental support, parental monitoring—tracking children’s whereabouts and activities—is also a known protective factor against alcohol consumption and other substance use among adolescents [ 1 , 11 , 19 ]. Parental Monitoring differs from Parental Support, in that monitoring pertains to parents’ knowledge of a child’s whereabouts (tracking and surveillance), while parental support pertains to emotional availability and presence [ 20 ].…”

“…Lack of parental monitoring has been associated with an increased risk of engagement in alcohol use among adolescents [ 5 , 23 ]. On a related note, high parental monitoring has been associated with improved health-related outcomes in adolescents; such as better mental well-being and less delinquency [ 24 ]; improved medication adherence [ 25 ]; and reduced substance use and substance use intentions among adolescents, [ 1 , 23 , 26 ] all of which are positively related to substance use.…”

“…However, not much is currently known about whether or not parental support and monitoring may impact younger and older adolescents differently. Very few studies have stratified by age groups in their analyses, and many well-done studies did not stratify by age even when there was an opportunity to do so [ 1 , 44 ]. The few studies that have examined adolescent substance use by age group differences have been largely inconclusive.…”