Parents' management of alcohol in the context of discourses of ‘competent’ parenting: A qualitative analysis

Abstract

How parents manage potential tensions between normative discourses of ‘competent parenting’ and their desires to consume alcohol has received little attention. In this article, we explore the elements that encourage or constrain parents' drinking and investigate how parents consider and manage their alcohol use in the context of multiple social roles with sometimes conflicting demands and expectations around ‘competent parenting’. Our analysis draws on 30 semi‐structured interviews with Australian parents, conducted as part of a broader project which aimed to explore how home drinking is integrated into everyday life. While parents' accounts of drinking alcohol highlighted effects such as embodied experiences of relaxation and facilitating shared adult moments, many participants described drinking less than they otherwise would if their children were not present. Participants discussed various social roles and routines which constrained consumption, with drinking bounded by responsibility. As such, drinking emerged as something needing to be actively negotiated, particularly in light of discourses that frame expectations of what constitutes ‘competent parenting’. When considering parents' alcohol consumption in the future, we argue that it is important to destigmatise their consumption by acknowledging the importance of adults' pleasure and wellbeing, alongside children's needs for safety and modelling of safer alcohol consumption.

Effects of exposure to mother's and father's alcohol use on young children's normative perceptions of alcohol

“…While this is the first time these results have been demonstrated for children this young in the academic literature, they may not be entirely unexpected for parents who have been shown to be aware (to some extent) of their role in teaching and modeling alcohol practices to their children (Cook, Kuntsche, & Pennay, 2021 ). Parents are also consumers of alcohol in their own right, who value alcohol and drinking as a form of relaxation and “time out” away from being a parent (Cook, Kuntsche, & Pennay 2021 ; Cook, Pennay, et al, 2022 ; Emslie et al, 2012 ). Thus, in thinking about the translation of these results into prevention or health policy, efforts need to be made to inform parents and carers about the association between parental alcohol exposure and children's alcohol‐related cognitions from young age, particularly the fine‐grained nature of this knowledge (see for example Drinken & Drinken, 2020 ).…”

“…Thus, in thinking about the translation of these results into prevention or health policy, efforts need to be made to inform parents and carers about the association between parental alcohol exposure and children's alcohol‐related cognitions from young age, particularly the fine‐grained nature of this knowledge (see for example Drinken & Drinken, 2020 ). However, it would also be important to keep in mind the complex lived experiences of parents and the roles alcohol plays in their lives to ensure efforts are not just admonishing parents (i.e., making them feel worse) and thus risking making them less receptive to prevention efforts (Cook, Pennay, et al, 2022 ; Jayne et al, 2012 ; Spencer, 2013 ).…”