Original article
Parental–Adolescent Drug Use Discussions: Physiological Responses and Associated Outcomes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.05.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Although talking to youth about drugs is often recommended to parents, we know little about how parents actually discuss drugs with their children in the moment and how parental advice is linked to youth arousal and substance use. This study examined observed parental drug use advice and parenting behaviors during parent–adolescent drug use discussions and associations with adolescent physiological responses and substance use.

Methods

Fifty-eight 12–17 year olds and their primary caregivers participated in a laboratory session in which parents and youth discussed the topic of alcohol and/or drug use for 10 minutes. This discussion was videotaped and coded for drug use advice (rules against drug use, information on drug use consequences, scenarios or learning advice [discussing drug use scenarios and what the child has learned about drugs]) and general parenting behaviors (parental warmth and/or support, negative and/or critical parenting). Before, during, and after the discussions, adolescents' heart rate, blood pressure (BP), and salivary cortisol levels were assessed.

Results

Parental discussion of scenarios and/or learning was associated with lower adolescent BP responses to the discussions and lower likelihood of substance use. Parental discussion of rules against drug use was associated with higher heart rate and BP responses and greater likelihood of substance use. Criticism and/or negative parenting was associated with higher cortisol responses and greater likelihood of substance use at a trend level.

Conclusions

Parenting characterized by greater discussion of drug use scenarios and less stating of rules against drug use and criticism may make youth feel more comfortable and be linked to lower substance use.

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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    Conflicts of Interest: The authors and the research staff do not have conflicts of interest to report.

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