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Relationships Between Alcohol-related Informal Social Control, Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Problem Behaviors Among Racially Diverse Urban Youth

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Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationships between alcohol-related informal social control and parental monitoring on alcohol use, behavior and intentions; violent behavior; and delinquent behavior in a racially diverse population of young urban adolescents. Baseline surveys were administered to 6th grade male and female students in 61 urban Chicago schools as part of Project Northland Chicago, a group randomized trial for the prevention/reduction of substance use. A subset of their parents (n = 3,034) was also surveyed regarding alcohol use, violence, and delinquency and related issues. Structural equation modeling was used to assess relationships between alcohol-related informal social control (as measured by parental perceptions of neighborhood action regarding youth drinking) and parental monitoring (as reported by parents), and three adolescent outcomes (alcohol use, behaviors and intentions; violent behavior; and delinquent behavior; as reported by teens). Associations between alcohol-related informal social control and parental monitoring were positive and significant (P < .001). Direct paths from parental monitoring to all three adolescent outcomes were negative and statistically significant (alcohol use, behaviors and intentions, P < .001; violent behavior, P < .001; and delinquent behavior, P < .001). Alcohol-related informal social control was not significantly associated with adolescent outcomes. Efforts to engage parents to be more active in monitoring adolescents’ activities may be related to lower levels of underage drinking, violence and delinquency among both female and male urban youth. Neighborhood norms and action against teenage drinking may be too distal to adolescent outcomes to be directly associated.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant (NIH/RO1 R01 AA013458) to Kelli Komro. We thank the Project Northland Chicago staff for extensive efforts in data collection, data management and computer programming. A special thanks goes to all the students and parents participating in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 5-160 Weaver-Densford Hall, 308 Harvard Street SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455-0342, USA

    Jayne A. Fulkerson

  2. Division of Epidemiology & Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN, 55454, USA

    Keryn E. Pasch

  3. Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Austin Regional Campus, Austin, TX, 78701, USA

    Cheryl L. Perry

  4. Epidemiology & Health Policy Research and Institute for Child Health Policy, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA

    Kelli Komro

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  1. Jayne A. Fulkerson
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  2. Keryn E. Pasch
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  3. Cheryl L. Perry
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  4. Kelli Komro
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Correspondence to Jayne A. Fulkerson.

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Fulkerson, J.A., Pasch, K.E., Perry, C.L. et al. Relationships Between Alcohol-related Informal Social Control, Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Problem Behaviors Among Racially Diverse Urban Youth. J Community Health 33, 425–433 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-008-9117-5

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