Research & Resources

Parent Permission and Alcohol Risk Communication in Early Adolescence

In this study, researchers tested the moderating effects of drinking with and without parental permission, and the association between parental alcohol risk communication (ARC) and later drinking without parental permission. Results supported a three-way interaction. There was a modest protective effect of parental ARC on later adolescent drinking, but only for adolescents who had prior experience drinking both with and without parental permission. For all other combinations of prior drinking experience, parental communication was not related to later drinking. These results help clarify the mixed literature on alcohol communication and suggest that ARC may help reduce some of the risk associated with allowing youth to drink alcohol, but only for youth who also have experience with alcohol outside of parental supervision.
This paper, “The moderating effects of alcohol use with and without parent permission on alcohol risk communication in early adolescence,” was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and published in the journal Addictive behaviors.

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