Mother and Father Prescription Opioid Misuse, Alcohol Use Disorder, and Parent Knowledge in Pathways to Adolescent Alcohol Use

Parenting during early adolescence is key in protecting adolescents against substance use initiation and patterned use. Parental alcohol use disorder is a robust risk factor for maladaptive parenting and adolescent alcohol use. However, it is unclear what effect parent prescription opioid misuse has on parenting and adolescent alcohol use. Associations were examined among parent alcohol use disorder, prescription opioid misuse, and parent knowledge of adolescent activities in early adolescence and their prediction of adolescent alcohol use approximately five years later. The current sample consisted of mothers (N = 457) and fathers (N = 368) drawn from a large longitudinal sample (The Adult and Family Development Project: AFDP). The average age was 11.68 in early adolescence and 16.22 in adolescence and 47% of adolescents were female. Parent knowledge was tested as a mediator of the effects of parent alcohol disorder and parent opioid misuse on adolescence alcohol use. This model was examined separately in mothers and fathers. For mothers, alcohol use disorder and prescription opioid misuse both predicted adolescent alcohol use indirectly via parent knowledge. Mothers’ alcohol use disorder also directly predicted adolescent alcohol use. For fathers, no direct or indirect effects of alcohol use disorder or prescription opioid misuse were detected although a covariate effect of illicit drug use on parent knowledge emerged. The results are discussed with regards to the processes that may explain how alcohol disorder or prescription opioid misuse affect mothers’ knowledge and increase risk for adolescent alcohol use.