A latent growth curve analysis of alcohol-use specific parenting and adolescent alcohol use

Abstract

This study investigates how changes in alcohol use-specific parenting were associated with adolescent drinking trajectories. Three waves of data from a longitudinal study investigating adolescent substance use were used. The community sample (N = 378) was aged 10–13 at the first wave of assessment. Our findings show that over time, parents are less likely to discipline their adolescents' drinking, more likely to grant their adolescent permission to drink, and less likely to communicate the consequences of alcohol use. Moreover, these changes are associated with escalation in adolescent alcohol use. Parental efficacy at preventing alcohol use declined, but did not relate to changes in adolescent drinking.

Introduction

Although general parenting practices (e.g., low warmth/responsiveness, inconsistent discipline) are well-established correlates of adolescent alcohol use and are prominent in socialization theories of adolescent alcohol use (Barnes et al., 2000, Chassin et al., 2002, Hawkins et al., 1992), much less research has examined alcohol use-specific parenting. Alcohol-use specific parenting refers to practices specifically aimed at deterring children's drinking, such as directly telling a child not to drink alcohol (Foley et al., 2004, Yu, 2003). There is evidence suggesting that negative parental attitudes about drinking as reflected in disapproval of alcohol, rules that prohibit drinking in the home, and perceived consequences for getting caught drinking are associated with decreased risk for adolescent alcohol use (Foley et al., 2004, Kelly et al., 2011, Martino et al., 2009, Yu, 2003). Additionally, there is evidence that low levels of adolescent-perceived parental legitimacy to regulate adolescents' alcohol use predict drinking onset (Handley & Chassin, 2013). Although parental efficacy in preventing substance use and communication of the health risks have been linked to lower risk for cigarette use (Chassin et al., 1998, Henriksen and Jackson, 1998, Jackson and Henriksen, 1997, Kodl and Mermelstein, 2004), to our knowledge, these aspects of parenting have not been examined with respect to adolescent drinking.

An important limitation of the literature is that studies have rarely examined how alcohol specific parenting might change as adolescents get older using a longitudinal design. There is evidence that parents become more permissive regarding adolescent alcohol use as youth age. For example, Kelly et al. (2011) found that parental disapproval of alcohol declined across time and that more rapid declines predicted adolescent alcohol use. Additionally, Prins, Donovan, and Molina (2011) found parents to become more accepting of sipping alcohol as their children matured into adolescence. An increase in parental permissiveness suggests that alcohol use-specific parenting might change with age, and that these changes might be associated with increases in adolescent alcohol use. The goal of this study was to test developmental changes in alcohol-specific parenting using a longitudinal design and examine if these changes were associated with trajectories of alcohol use.

Four domains of alcohol-specific parenting were considered, including parental disciplining of adolescents' drinking, parental efficacy about preventing adolescent drinking, drinking with parental permission (reflecting parental attitudes about alcohol), and parental communication of alcohol-related consequences. We hypothesized that parents would become less likely to discipline adolescents' drinking and less likely to communicate the health risk of drinking as youth age, and that these declines would be associated with increases in alcohol use. We also hypothesized that increases in drinking with parental permission across time, and that more rapid increases in drinking with parental permission would be associated with increases in alcohol use. Finally, we hypothesized declines in perceived parental efficacy in preventing adolescent drinking, and that these declines would be associated with increases in alcohol use. This hypothesis was based on the premise that as adolescents mature, they spend increasingly more time with peers, engage in more unsupervised activities, disclose less to their parents, and establish independence (Larson & Richards, 1991). This general developmental shift toward independence was hypothesized to translate into a reduction in parental efficacy.