Parenting Style and Adolescent Drinking

The study finds that parenting attitudes and actions can make a difference in how much and how often a teenager drinks.

Researchers surveyed 4,983 teens in grades 7 through 12 about their drinking habits and their relationship with their parents. The kids least prone to heavy drinking had parents who scored high on accountability and warmth. These parents knew where their kids were and what company their kids kept, but balanced their parental demands with praise and warmth. “Indulgent” parents, those parents who were low on accountability and high on warmth, nearly tripled the risk of their teen participating in heavy drinking. “Strict” parents, those who were high on accountability and low in warmth, more than doubled their teen’s risk of drinking. This result held after controlling for peer associations, religiousness and other background variables.

The study is published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Read the report.