Assessing elements of a family approach to reduce adolescent drinking frequency: parent-adolescent relationship, knowledge management and keeping secrets.

Mark Mccann,Aisling Mclaughlin,Kathryn Higgins,Claire Mccartan,Oliver Perra

doi:10.1111/add.13258

Mark Mccann, Aisling Mclaughlin + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13258

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Abstract

AimsTo estimate (1) the associations between parent–adolescent relationship, parental knowledge and subsequent adolescent drinking frequency and (2) the influence of alcohol use on parental knowledge.DesignPath analysis of school based cohort study with annual surveys.SettingPost‐primary schools from urban and intermediate/rural areas in Northern Ireland.ParticipantsA total of 4937 post‐primary school students aged approximately 11 years in 2000 followed until approximately age 16 years in 2005.MeasurementsPupil‐reported measures of: frequency of alcohol use; parent–child relationship quality; subdimensions of parental monitoring: parental control, parental solicitation, child disclosure and child secrecy.FindingsHigher levels of parental control [ordinal logistic odds ratio (OR) = 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.78, 0.95] and lower levels of child secrecy (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.75, 0.92) were associated subsequently with less frequent alcohol use. Parental solicitation and parent–child relationship quality were not associated with drinking frequency. Weekly alcohol drinking was associated with higher subsequent secrecy (beta −0.42, 95% CI = –0.53, −0.32) and lower parental control (beta −0.15, 95% CI = –0.26, −0.04). Secrecy was more strongly predictive of alcohol use at younger compared with older ages (P = 0.02), and alcohol use was associated less strongly with parental control among families with poorer relationships (P = 0.04).ConclusionsAdolescent alcohol use appears to increase as parental control decreases and child secrecy increases. Greater parental control is associated with less frequent adolescent drinking subsequently, while parent–child attachment and parental solicitation have little influence on alcohol use.

Highlights

More than 70% of European students have drunk alcohol at least once [1]
The models contained the following components: (a) cross-sectional correlations between year 1 variables; (b) stability paths, the association between the same variable from one timepoint to the ; and (c) cross-lagged paths, showing the association between one variable and subsequent levels of the other variables These cross-lagged paths suggest to what extent alcohol use or monitoring is associated with subsequent change in the other construct, over and above that expected given their prior levels of drinking or monitoring
The study demonstrated the association between parental monitoring and adolescent alcohol use

Summary

Introduction

While alcohol has social functions, excess and early drinking may confer a risk of physical, emotional and social harm. While there may be no causal link between age of onset and later chronic alcohol problems [2,3], early use is predictive of future drinking patterns [4], which can contribute to long-term health outcomes [5,6,7], delinquency [8,9,10], mental health problems and risky sexual behaviour [11,12] and poor academic performance [8,13,14]. Providing emotional support for children is one element of the parental role [15]; another key element is parenting behaviours to minimize the risk of physical or social harm [16]. Children choose whether or not to disclose information about their

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