Normative feedback for parents of college students: Piloting a parent based intervention to correct misperceptions of students' alcohol use and other parents' approval of drinking

Abstract

Objective Multi-component parent-based interventions (PBIs) provide a promising avenue for targeting alcohol use and related consequences in college students. Parents of college-aged children can have a significant influence on their children’s alcohol use decisions. However, parents tend to underestimate their own child’s alcohol use and overestimate other similar parents’ approval of student drinking. These misperceptions could have important implications for parents’ own attitudes and alcohol-related communication with their student. Targeting these misperceptions through normative feedback could help promote greater and more in-depth alcohol-related communication. The present study examines the potential efficacy of web-based alcohol-related normative feedback for parents of college students. Method A sample of 144 parents of college students received web-based normative feedback about students’ alcohol use and approval, as well as other same-college parents’ alcohol approval. Parents completed measures of perceived student alcohol use, student alcohol approval, other-parent alcohol approval, and intentions to discuss alcohol use both pre- and post-normative feedback. Results Post-feedback, parents reported stronger intentions to talk to their student about alcohol, were less confident in their knowledge of their students’ alcohol use, and believed that their student drank in greater quantity and more frequently than pre-feedback. Parents also perceived other parents to be less approving of alcohol use after viewing normative feedback. Conclusions These findings provide preliminary support for the use of web-based normative feedback for parents of college students. Given these promising results, further research developing and testing this approach merits attention.

An Examination of the Relationship Between Consequence‐Specific Normative Belief Patterns and Alcohol‐Related Consequences Among College Students

“…The current results also support recent efforts to expand the delivery of PNF interventions to parents of college students. Several studies indicate parents of college students tend to overestimate other parents’ approval of student drinking behavior (Cail and LaBrie, ; LaBrie et al., ) and that parents’ normative beliefs about college student alcohol use can be corrected (LaBrie et al., ). However, to date, no studies have examined parental beliefs regarding students’ experiences with alcohol‐related consequences.…”

A parent-based intervention reduces heavy episodic drinking among first-year college students.

“…Moreover, parents typically underestimate how often other parents communicate with their children about alcohol (Napper et al, 2014; Linkenbach, Perkins, & DeJong, 2003) and overestimate how approving other parents are of student drinking (LaBrie, Hummer, Lac, Ehret, & Kenney, 2011), beliefs which may lead them to communicate less often and convey a more approving attitude about alcohol use with their own children. In addition, parents have been shown to underestimate how often their own child consumes alcohol (LaBrie, Napper, & Hummer, 2014; Bylund, Imes, & Baxter, 2005), which may also cause them to be less motivated to initiate a conversation about drinking—viewing it as not needed for their students—than they would be if they held more accurate beliefs. Just as correcting students’ alcohol use norms leads to changes in their drinking-related attitudes and behaviors, social norms theory predicts that correcting parents’ alcohol communication norms would similarly influence them to adopt less approving attitudes and become more motivated to increase their alcohol-related messaging.…”

Drinking Game Participation Among High School and Incoming College Students

“…For example, providing parents with didactic information about the prevalence and risks of DG participation may facilitate important conversations with their children. Moreover, parental intervention efforts designed to correct misperceptions parents may have regarding (a) their children’s alcohol use and (b) other parents’ approval of drinking (in order to illustrate that not all parents endorse lenient attitudes toward alcohol use) could also prove useful in combatting college students’ risk for high-risk drinking, such as DG involvement (LaBrie, Napper, & Hummer, 2014). Not only could such efforts encourage parents to engage in greater and more in-depth conversations with their children regarding their alcohol use, but they could also reduce the risk of “parental groupthink,” whereby parents fall into the trap of thinking that other parents approve of drinking.…”