Alcohol-specific socialization, parenting behaviors and alcohol use by children

Objective: This panel study examined the relations between alcohol-specific socialization by parents (monitoring of alcohol use by children, allowing alcohol use by children at home, communicating against alcohol use and sett ing rules against alcohol use), general dimensions of parenting behavior (r esponsiveness and demandingness) and alcohol use by children. il Method: A sample of 488 fifth-grade children reported their perceptions of alcohol-sp ecific socialization by parents, parental responsiveness and parental deman dingness. These variables were used to predict alcohol use when children in the panel were in seventh grade. Results: Nineteen percent of seventh-grad e children reported alcohol use in the past 30 days. Logistic regression an alyses indicated that, after accounting for children's age, sex, single par ent status, prior use of alcohol and exposure to parental modeling of alcoh ol use, the odds of alcohol use were significantly greater among children w ho perceived no parental monitoring of alcohol use, who had been allowed by parents to have a drink with alcohol at home and who perceived relatively low levels of parental demandingness. Rules against alcohol use, parental c ommunication against alcohol use and parental responsiveness were unrelated to the study outcome. Conclusions: Parental monitoring of alcohol use by c hildren, family norms regarding alcohol use by children at home and parenta l ability to set and enforce behavioral rules merit consideration as factor s that should be modified by prevention programs. There is a need, however, for additional research that further examines the relations between exposu re to such parenting behaviors during childhood and alcohol use during adol escence.