More Than Just Openness: Developing and Validating a Measure of Targeted Parent–Child Communication About Alcohol

Abstract

Research addressing parent-child communication on the topic of alcohol use relies heavily on assessing frequency of discussions and general assessments of openness in parent-child communication, ignoring the complexity of this communication phenomenon. This study adds to the literature by articulating a conceptualization and developing a measurement of parent-child communication-targeted parent-child communication about alcohol-and comparing the efficacy of targeted parent-child communication about alcohol in predicting positive expectancies of alcohol use and recent alcohol use. The predictive power of general openness in parent-child communication and frequency of communication about alcohol also were assessed. Students in 5 th and 6 th grade (N = 1407) from 29 public schools completed surveys. Targeted parent-child communication about alcohol was negatively associated with both outcomes. Frequency and general openness were only negatively associated with positive expectancies regarding alcohol. Implications of these findings for the etiology and prevention of substance use are discussed.In the U.S., alcohol abuse has become a part of our public consciousness due to the pervasive use by our nation's youth (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2007). A national survey revealed that 39% of 8 th grade students reported having consumed alcohol in their lifetime with 18% consuming to the point of drunkenness (Johnston et al., 2007). Concern over alcohol use rates stem from the finding that the earlier youth initiate alcohol use, the more likely they are to develop alcohol dependence and related problems in adulthood (Grant & Dawson, 1997). Based on the Gateway Hypothesis, Collins (2002) suggests that most adolescents begin with alcohol consumption followed by other substances. The risks of teen alcohol and other substance use include accidental injury, addiction, academic failure, impaired social maturation, and mortality (Johnston et al., 2007). The seriousness of the consequences of alcohol use by youth has generated policies, programs, and research interest in the prevention of use and abuse among youth. An outcome of these efforts over the past few decades is a complex body of knowledge concerning the etiology of alcohol use, revealing a dynamic and multifaceted system of personal and contextual factors of influence (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992).The question remains, what influences the uptake and continued use of alcohol and other substances among youth in the U.S.? The prevention literature indicates that parental influences, parent-child communication in particular, may effectively buffer against the risks of early use initiation (Brody, Murry, Kim, & Brown, 2002;Miller, Alberts, Hecht, Trost, & Krizek, 2000), predict negative attitudes toward alcohol use (Perry et al, 2002), and reduce All correspondence should be directed to the first author at 234 Sparks, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A., or via, mam32@psu.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptHealth Commun. Author manuscript; avai...

Introduction to Special Issue

“…For example, a number of studies have found that effective parental monitoring of adolescent activities can reduce risk for substance use (Fosco, Stormshak, Dishion, & Winter, 2012;Griffin, Botvin, Scheier, Diaz, & Miller, 2000;Van Ryzin, Fosco, & Dishion, 2012). Research also supports a link between parent-adolescent relationship quality and adolescent substance use (Hummel, Shelton, Heron, Moore, & Bree, 2013;Ledoux, Miller, Choquet, & Plant, 2002;Van Ryzin et al, 2012), as well as effective parent-youth communication and adolescent substance use (Kam, Basinger, & Abendschein, 2015;Kam, Castro, & Wang, 2015;Kam & Middleton, 2013;Miller-Day & Dodd, 2004;Miller-Day & Kam, 2010;Reimuller, Hussong, & Ennett, 2011;Zaharakis, Taylor, & Kliewer, 2015).…”

“…Past research (e.g., Kafka & London, 1991) has primarily focused on: (a) general openness or frequency of parent-child communication in relation to adolescent substance use, and more recently, (b) how SSPC relates to adolescent substance use (Kam & Middleton, 2013;Miller-Day & Kam, 2010). To extend such research, Choi and colleagues suggested that the effects of SSPC on adolescent substance use likely depend on their family communication environment, as characterized by their expressiveness, structural traditionalism, and avoidance.…”

“…By life-span approach, we refer to two areas: (a) human development (early childhood to older adulthood), as well as (b) substance-use development (early experimentation to later misuse). From a human development standpoint, much of family communication research on SUDs focuses on early adolescents (e.g., Ebersole et al, 2014;Miller-Day & Kam, 2010;Reimuller et al, 2011) or young adults (e.g., Menegatos et al, 2016;MillerDay & Dodd, 2004). Concentrating on these particular developmental periods is crucial, given the evidence that suggests anti-substance-use socialization at an early age might be more successful in preventing future SUDs than starting at a later age (Hopfer et al, 2010) and the prevalence of substance use in young adulthood (Glowacki, 2017;Middleton et al, 2017).…”

“…Miller-Day (2002, 2005a, 2005b, 2007, 2008 conducted research on how parents talk with youth about substances and substance use and the effectiveness of those conversations. This "drug talk" research was then further developed by Miller-Day and colleagues, qualitatively exploring the contexts of drug talks (Miller-Day & Dodd, 2004), adolescents' interpretation of their parent's antidrug messages within the context of past and current parental use (Ebersole, Miller-Day, & Raup-Krieger, 2014), parents antidrug socialization and alcohol and tobacco media literacy (Shin, Miller-Day, & Hecht, in press), and the development of an instrument to measure targeted parentchild communication about alcohol (Miller-Day & Kam, 2010).…”

Preventing alcohol misuse in young people: an exploratory cluster randomised controlled trial of the Kids, Adults Together (KAT) programme

“…The Targeted Parent-Child Communication about Alcohol Scale (TPCCAS) 123 measures general openness, frequency and, specifically, alcohol-related content of parent-child communication. Development of the measure was based on evidence that parent-child communication which was more protective against substance misuse not only involved open and frequent general communication but also specifically addressed the topic of substance misuse.…”