Parent, Peer and Personal Determinants of Adolescent Drinking

Abstract

This study examined direct and indirect influences of parents and peers on adolescent drinking. One hundred and six adolescents, their parents and a same-sex best friend of the adolescent each completed measures that tapped actual and perceived drinking behaviour, and normative standards for alcohol use. Of methodological interest was that adolescents of both sexes provided accurate reports of their parents' and peer's drinking, as well as drinking norms. Path analyses revealed different effects for male and female adolescents. Strongest predictors of alcohol use for males were their perceptions of their father's and mother's drinking, and their father's actual drinking. Best friend's drinking was positively related to the adolescent males' perceptions of themselves as a drinker. The single predictor of their internalized norms was the perception adolescent males had of their friend's drinking. Significantly, the adolescent male's own norms predicted how much and what they drank. For adolescent females, how much they believed their best friend drank, and their friend's normative standards, were the strongest predictors of alcohol use. Father's drinking also influenced the drinking practices of daughters, but mothers had no impact on their daughters' alcohol use. In contrast to young males, females' personal preferences or liking of alcohol successfully predicted most of their drinking behaviour.

Pirate or Buy? The Moderating Effect of Idolatry

“…Although LaRose and Kim's study (2007) suggested that subjective norms do not have a direct effect on teenagers' intention to illegally download music, this might be because the significant others in their study are parents or the university (teachers or school regulations). However, prior studies found that peer influence is critical for adolescents' behavior, particularly for current decisions (Wilks, 1986) such as drug use or drinking (Wilks et al, 1989). The influences of seniority are significant for future decisions such as life or career planning.…”

A Multi-Country Study of Harms to Children Because of Others’ Drinking

“…A substantial literature in high-income countries has found that adult drinking is often implicated in child maltreatment, with proportions attributable to alcohol ranging upward from 16% (Laslett et al, 2013(Laslett et al, , 2015Single et al, 2000). Parental and carer alcohol misuse has been linked to a range of negative child outcomes, including poor role modelling and subsequent next-generation problematic drinking (Wilks et al, 1989;Yu, 2003), inability to maintain family routines (Gruenert et al, 2004;Velleman & Templeton, 2007), increased incidence of injuries and childhood diseases (Holmila et al, 2013), and child abuse and neglect (Laslett et al, 2012b(Laslett et al, , 2013. This article reports on and compares indicators of harm to children from adults' drinking in eight countries: Australia, Ireland, Chile, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), and Nigeria.…”

Parents Know Best, But Are They Accurate? Parental Normative Misperceptions and Their Relationship to Students' Alcohol-Related Outcomes

“…Early research on younger noncollege populations has revealed links between the attitudes of parents and children regarding alcohol use. In these studies, parental attitudes were assessed using children's perceptions of their parents' attitudes rather than parents' reports of their own attitudes (Jessor et al, 1991;Oostveen et al, 1996;Wilks et al, 1989). Although perceived attitudes are likely not identical representations of actual parental attitudes, they are informative and meaningful refl ections.…”