Research & Resources

Taking Alcohol from One’s Parents’ Home Without Permission as a Risk Factor for Greater Alcohol and Marijuana Use During the Transition into College

This study investigated individual characteristics potentially associated with taking alcohol from one’s parents’ home without permission and associations between taking alcohol and drinking, alcohol consequences, and marijuana use. A total of 562 alcohol-experienced underage emerging adults completed a web-based survey before starting college. Participants reported measures including sources of alcohol (friend, parents, party, took it from home); drinking frequency; consequences; marijuana use (ever and past 30 days); age of alcohol initiation; symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress; parental modeling of drinking; and demographic information. The results revealed that taking alcohol from one’s parents’ home without permission was significantly associated with having obtained alcohol from friends, parents, and parties; earlier age of alcohol initiation; and parental modeling of drinking. Having taken alcohol from the home without permission and having obtained it from friends were uniquely associated with increased odds of typical weekly drinking, consequences, and marijuana use in the past 30 days when controlling for all other variables assessed in this study. Parent-based interventions targeting adolescents and emerging adults should inform parents of the risks associated with adolescents and emerging adults taking alcohol from the home and obtaining it from friends. Parents should also be informed that supplying their adolescents and emerging adults with alcohol or modeling drinking may increase the likelihood that they take alcohol from the home.

This paper, “Taking alcohol from one’s parents’ home without permission as a risk factor for greater alcohol and marijuana use during the transition into college,” was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and published in the journal Addictive behaviors.

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