Parents can reduce adolescent alcohol problems and improve school success

Parents who are inclined to allow their children a sip of celebratory champagne should think again. New research has shown that parents who set rules that forbid their children using any alcohol at home reduce the risk that their children will become alcohol users in their early teens.

Deakin University Professor of Psychology John Toumbourou completed the study of the influences on early adolescent alcohol use with colleagues from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. The results highlight the strong impact parents and schools have on teen drinking.

Professor Toumbourou said the findings were a wake-up call for parents who believed they were doing the right thing by allowing their children to sip alcohol at home or during celebrations.

"Parents totally underestimate the influence they have on their teenager’s drinking and the harm they put them in by letting them drink at home," he said.

"We found that teens were around half as likely to have consumed alcohol by age 13 when their parents said that they did not allow their children to have even a small sip of alcohol at home or at celebrations in the first year of secondary school.

"We also found that adolescents with a parent who drank regularly or smoked cigarettes were at increased risk of drinking themselves. However, the findings revealed that whether or not parents drank regularly or smoked themselves, the families that set a firm rule that prohibited children using any alcohol at home reduced the risk of adolescent alcohol use.

"The findings suggest clear directions parents can take to curb the currently alarming rates of teenage alcohol consumption."

The study involved 2,315 Year 7 students from 24 schools in Melbourne who were then followed-up one year later. It examined the influence of family factors relative to school, peer and individual influences on the development of adolescent alcohol use during the first year of secondary school. The potential of an intervention program, know as Resilient Families, to prevent early adolescent alcohol use and enhance school success was also evaluated.

Overall, the results showed that 33 per cent of students reported drinking alcohol at the start of Year 7. This figure rose to 47 per cent one year later.

"This study has confirmed that parents can play a useful role in preventing use of alcohol in childhood or early adolescence. Previous research has demonstrated that early age alcohol consumption increases the chances of alcohol misuse and harm later in life," Professor Toumbourou said.

The Resilient Families program was designed to improve adolescent-parent relationship skills and parenting education options available at school. The study findings suggested that schools can improve student education by providing help for parents.

"In the 12 schools that were randomly assigned to receive the Resilient Families program there were overall improvements reported by the students. They reported improvements in their attendance at school while also reporting increased attachment to their school and to their parents," Professor Toumbourou said.

Parents’ attendance at the education programs offered in the first year of secondary school was found to result in added benefits.

"Attendance in the Resilient Families parent education was associated with a reduced risk of alcohol use by their adolescents while also improving students’ academic grades, and reducing the likelihood of their child experiencing bullying," Professor Toumbourou said.

While there were some excellent results found for the first year of the Resilient Families program, Professor Toumbourou warned that the high level of alcohol use at entry to secondary school, together with the strong influence of parental and peer alcohol and tobacco use, suggests that family-based interventions may need to be supported by programs in primary school and in the broader community if they are to succeed in preventing adolescent alcohol use.

"The parental success in containing adolescent alcohol use and improving academic progress was associated with some increase in conflict with adolescents, suggesting the need to provide further support to families with adolescent children," Professor Toumbourou said.

The Resilient Families evaluation was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation, the Grosvenor Settlement philanthropic trust and the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.

(Source: Deakin University : January 2008)