PARENTAL DRINKING AND GENDER FACTORS IN THE PREDICTION OF EARLY ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL-USE

This study examines the relationship between children's reports of the ir parents' drinking patterns, and the child's alcohol misuse and heav y alcohol use in early adolescence. Subjects were 2,213 fifth and sixt h grade students. Data on the child's alcohol use and misuse, and pare nt alcohol use, were derived from classroom-administered questionnaire s. Increased reported level of drinking by mother or by father was sig nificantly associated with increased odds of alcohol misuse and heavy alcohol use among the children; these results held for both boys and g irls when examined separately. Examination for possible confounding ef fects of assortative mating by parental drinking suggests that reports of heavy drinking in either parent increases the risk of alcohol misu se and heavy alcohol use in children. Implications for prevention effo rts are discussed.