Parents’ Drinking Patterns and Parenting Practices May Influence Teens’ Drinking Behavior

By Sathya Achia Abraham

When it comes to alcohol use, teens tend to be influenced by their parents' drinking behavior, both directly and indirectly, via influences on how their parents monitor and discipline them, according to new findings from an international team of researchers.

Danielle M. Dick, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of psychiatry in the VCU School of Medicine; Shawn J. Latendresse, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at VCU, and corresponding author for the study, and researchers from other universities, examined the extent of the relationship between the drinking behaviors of 4,731 youths between the ages of 14 and 17.5 years and their parents. Additionally, the team examined the parents' drinking behaviors and how the behaviors impacted their ability to parent responsibly.

Parents who participated in the study were asked a series of questions on frequency of alcohol use and intoxication and the prevalence of alcohol-related problems in their lives. Teens were asked about how they were parented and their prevalence of alcohol use and intoxication.

The study appears in the February issue of the Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Dick conducted the research while on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. Read the journal's news release at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/ace-pda012808.php.