Original articleParental–Adolescent Drug Use Discussions: Physiological Responses and Associated Outcomes
Section snippets
Participants
Fifty-eight 12–17 year olds and their parents participated in the study. The sample was recruited through mailings to representative households in a small city in the northeastern United States. Demographic information is provided in Table 1.
Procedures
Adolescents attended three sessions for a study of stress and risk behaviors. In the first, youth completed questionnaires assessing substance use. In the second, adolescents completed breathalyzer and urine screens and an electroencephalography study. In
Data inspection
Correlations among variables are presented in Table 2. Data were examined for normality. Parental rules against drug use and information about consequences each had one outlier (>3 standard deviations above the mean). HR, BP, and cortisol responses had 1, 2, and 2 outliers, respectively. Outliers were set to be equal to the next highest value in the data set [27], [28]. Rules against drug use, scenario and/or learning advice, and negative and/or critical parenting were skewed, and so square
Discussion
The present study examined how observed parental drug use advice and parenting relate to adolescent physiological reactivity and current substance use. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind using observational and physiological measures, which can supplement questionnaire-based studies. Findings suggested that youth had a higher likelihood of substance use and were more highly physiologically aroused if their parents presented rules against substance use or displayed negative
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the study sponsors, the participating families, and the research staff who contributed significantly to the work: Rebecca Watsky, Sarah Eppler-Epstein, and Margaret Gardner. Portions of the work described in the manuscript were presented as a poster at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development in March 2013. The study sponsors did not have a role in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of the
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2021, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :While we did not collect data on whether parents talked with their children about how to fill a prescription, we did find that specific discussions about appropriate disposal of excess medication was significantly predictive of comfort in this domain when accounting for general parenting. This finding echoes work showing that specific parental communications regarding alcohol use can be uniquely predictive of youth alcohol misuse (Chaplin et al., 2014; Lam et al., 2017; Napper, 2019). These findings led us to perform subsequent analyses to see the extent to which youth perceptions of comfort disposing of medications (partially the result of parental specific discussion) is associated with actual behaviors.
Trends in substance use and prevention education involvement among U.S. adolescents receiving public assistance: new evidence
2021, Annals of EpidemiologyCitation Excerpt :Substance prevention education (e.g., substance-specific parental conversation [hereinafter ‘parent talk’], school-based programs, and media campaigns) can be an effective means to mitigate the adverse effects on adolescent substance use. Parental talk about substance use, especially when messages about potential consequences were delivered in open communication, was effective in reducing substance use among adolescents [19-22]. While findings are somewhat mixed for school-based programs, meta-analyses of randomized control trials report reductions in the frequency and quantity of alcohol use as well as illicit drug use following participation in programs using evidence-based curriculum ([23, 24]).
Examining the associations between alcohol-related parental communication, alcohol use, and protective behavioral strategy use among young adults
2020, Addictive BehaviorsCitation Excerpt :Some research has indicated that alcohol-specific parental communication is effective at reducing or preventing alcohol use and negative consequences among adolescent and young adult populations (Napper et al., 2014; Small et al., 2011; Turrisi et al., 2010). Conversely, other studies have found that alcohol-specific communication is associated with higher frequency of use, misuse, and related consequences (Chaplin et al., 2014; Freire, 2008; Van der Vorst, Burk, & Engels, 2010). Possible explanations for the variation in the findings may be related to the content or focus of alcohol-specific communications (i.e. permissiveness, drinking consequences, parents’ alcohol rules) (Boyle & Boekeloo, 2009; Menegatos, Lederman, & Floyd, 2016; Miller-Day, 2008) as well as issues with what type of alcohol behavior is being examined, whether it be initiation, escalation, or varying levels of misuse (see Yap et al., 2017).
Parent-Adolescent Drug Use Discussions: Studying Content and Affective Processes
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2022, Journal of Personality Assessment
Conflicts of Interest: The authors and the research staff do not have conflicts of interest to report.