Parents Who Binge Drink - Don’t Be Surprised When Your Teens Do Likewise!
Teens that delay their first experimentation with alcohol until the age of 21 have virtually no risk of ever developing an alcohol abuse problem, but what can parents do to keep these experimentally prone youngsters from trying alcohol? - Researchers say that one of the most important things you can do to keep your children safe is to set a good example in the home and to practice what you preach!
If one or more parents at home drinks heavily, how does this impact the children in the house – specifically, are these kids at greater risk of drinking problems themselves later in life?
Researchers at the National Center on Substance Abuse and Addiction at Columbia University (CASA) do a lot of research on alcohol and the family to be able to answer questions like this. Here are some facts from their 2009 National Survey on American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIX that show just how affected children are by a parent drinking heavily in the house.
34% of teens questioned said they had seen one or more parents drunk. Compared to teens that had never seen either parent get drunk, these teens were:
- Twice as likely to get drunk in any given month (teens that get drunk monthly are 18 times more likely to also use marijuana than teens who don’t drink)
- Three times more likely to have experimented with marijuana
- Three times more likely to have experimented with smoking cigarettes
It’s fairly clear that we do as parents matters and that when we try to prescribe behaviors to our teens that we do not follow in our own lives, our kids are quick to spot our hypocrisy!
Teens who abstain from drinking until the age of 21 have almost no chance of developing a drinking problem over the course of a lifetime. It seems that if wish our children to steer clear of experimenting with alcohol and drugs we need to set a good example in the home!
It’s also important to expect that your teen son or daughter abstain from drinking and drug use and to make your expectations known to your children
- Teens of parents who believed that some future drug use by their children was very likely were an astounding 10 times more likely to have used marijuana than teens of parents who believed that their children would never use drugs.
- A teen who believes that his or her father condones their drinking is 250% more likely to get drunk in any given month than teens with fathers who do not approve of underage drinking.1
Practice what you preach and if you drink, drink only in moderation; stay involved in the lives of your children, talk to your children about drugs and alcohol and make sure they know that you do not condone any experimentation with use – if you do these things you do much to keep your kids safe and healthy.
References
Editor’s picks
11 Reasons Why Teens Abuse Prescription Opiates – And How Parents Can Prevent It
From a study of thousands of adolescent opiate users we learn the 11 most common reasons why teens abuse pain pills. Ultimately it all comes down to easy availability and misperceptions about consequences and safety.
Social Norms Marketing for Alcohol Abuse Prevention
Heavy drinkers tend to think that other people drink more than they do (myth). If people with such misperceptions get accurate information about how much others in their community are drinking, they are more likely to reduce their overall consumption. Giving people who have incorrect beliefs about a negative behavior accurate information is called social norms marketing – and it is a cheap and effective way to reduce negative behaviors, like binge drinking, across a large population.
Understanding Risk and Protective Factors – Things That Increase or Decrease the Risks of Teen Drug Use
Although there are no guarantees, teens who grow up exposed to a significant number of protective factors (such as having loving and effective parents, doing well in school etc.) are far less likely to use drugs than teens who grow up exposed to many risk factors (early aggression, having peers who use drugs or alcohol, having a parent with a substance abuse problem or mental illness and others). Fortunately, parents can do a lot to increase the protective factors while decreasing the risk factors!
Parenting Styles that Prevent Drug and Alcohol Experimentation
Although as the parent of a teen you may wonder how much influence you have, research shows pretty clearly that what you do (or don’t do) has a huge impact on your teen’s health, happiness, and even choices. Learn which parenting styles reduce the odds of drug and alcohol abuse and which styles increase the risks – and learn how parental monitoring can keep your son or daughter safe from the worst of the dangers.
Parents - Prevent Drinking to Prevent Developmental Brain Damage
Adolescents are burdened with a still developing brain that’s uniquely at risk to alcohol overexposure - but that still developing brain is also very attracted to experimentation and thrill seeking, it isn’t as affected by the negatives of alcohol (teens don’t get as sleepy when drinking or as hung over after the fact) and it isn’t as capable of higher order decision making. All in all, it’s a bad combination and because of this, parental prevention efforts are very important. Parents who can prevent underage alcohol abuse can prevent developmental brain damage.