A Parenting Program to Promote an Alcohol-Free Childhood: Influence on Parents' Readiness to Prevent Child Sipping

Effects of a web-based alcohol drinking prevention program linking school-to-home in elementary students

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the effects of a web-based alcohol drinking prevention program among early elementary school students in South Korea using the theory of planned behavior. This study utilized a combined family and school intervention approach.

DESIGN

This was a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group.

SAMPLE

A total of 251 third graders (experimental group: 170, control group: 81) from four public schools were included.

MEASUREMENTS

A web-based alcohol drinking prevention program was implemented in five weekly sessions. Students' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and intentions toward alcohol drinking prevention behavior were evaluated through pre- and post-tests.

RESULTS

The average age of the participants was 9 years in both the experimental (82 male and 88 female students) and control (44 male and 37 female students) groups. A significant improvement in attitudes, PBC, and intentions toward alcohol drinking prevention behaviors was found in the experimental group.

CONCLUSIONS

A web-based alcohol drinking prevention program combining family and school interventions for lower elementary school students was effective at increasing intentions toward alcohol drinking prevention behavior. Alcohol drinking prevention programs should target lower elementary school students to effectively postpone the onset of alcohol drinking.

Pubertal Timing and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Mediating Role of Parental and Peer Influences

Using intergenerational, prospective data at ages 9 months, 7, 11, and 14 years from the nationally representative United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study, this interdisciplinary study unpacks why 14-year-old adolescents with early perceived pubertal timing (PT) were more likely to drink alcohol (ever, frequent, and binge drinking) compared to those whose PT was on-time or late (5,757 girls, 5,799 boys; 80% White, 10% Asian, 3% Black, and 7% Other British). Parents allowed drinking among 22% (18%) of early PT girls (boys) compared to 11% of late PT adolescents; formal mediation models showed differences by PT in parent permissiveness and gains in alcohol-using friends primarily explained age 14 PT-drinking associations. Parental alcohol permissiveness should be a key prevention target for early PT adolescents.

Parental supply of sips and whole drinks of alcohol to adolescents and associations with binge drinking and alcohol-related harms: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Parents frequently supply alcohol to their children, often only sips. We investigated whether supply of sips and whole drinks, from parents and other sources, are differentially associated with subsequent drinking outcomes.

METHODS

A cohort of 1910 adolescents (mean age 12.9yrs) were surveyed annually over seven years from 2010-11. We examined prospective, adjusted associations between the quantity of supply from parental and non-parental sources in the preceding 12 months and five outcomes in the subsequent year, over several consecutive years: binge drinking; alcohol-related harms; symptoms of alcohol abuse, dependence and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

RESULTS

In early waves, most parental supply comprised sips, while supply of whole drinks increased in later waves. Among those not receiving alcohol from other sources, parental supply of sips was associated with increased odds of binge drinking (OR: 1.85; 99.5 % CI: 1.17-2.91) and alcohol-related harms (OR: 1.70; 99.5 % CI: 1.20-2.42), but not with reporting symptoms of alcohol abuse, dependence or AUD, compared with no supply. Relative to no supply, supply of sips from other sources was associated with increased odds of binge drinking (OR: 2.04; 99.5 % CI: 1.14-3.67) only. Compared with supply of sips, supply of whole drinks by parents or others had higher odds of binge drinking, alcohol-related harms, symptoms of dependence and of AUD. Secondary analysis demonstrated that supply of larger quantities was associated with an increased risk of all outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Parental provision of sips is associated with increased risks and the supply of greater quantities was associated with an increasing risk of adverse outcomes.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02280551).

Parents Allowing Drinking Is Associated With Adolescents' Heavy Alcohol Use

BACKGROUND

Using intergenerational prospective data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we examine whether parents allowing 14-year-olds to drink alcohol is associated with greater likelihood of early adolescents' heavy episodic drinking (i.e., lifetime, rapid escalation from first drink, and frequent past year), beyond shared risk factors for parental alcohol permissiveness and adolescent alcohol use.

METHODS

The MCS is a unique, contemporary, nationally representative study with mother, father, and child data from infancy through age 14 years (n = 11,485 children and their parents). In a series of multivariate logistic regressions, we estimated whether teenagers whose parents allowed them to drink alcohol (16% of parents said "yes") faced an elevated likelihood of heavy alcohol use at age 14, controlling for a large host of likely child and parent confounders measured when children were age 11. To further assess plausible intergenerational associations of parental alcohol permissiveness and offspring heavy alcohol use, coarsened exact matching (CEM) was used to match 14-year-olds whose parents allowed them to drink alcohol with teens whose parents did not allow them to drink on these childhood antecedent variables.

RESULTS

Adolescents whose parents allowed them to drink had higher odds of heavy drinking (odds ratio [OR] = 2.40; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.96 to 2.94), rapidly escalating from initiation to heavy drinking (OR = 1.94; CI = 1.52 to 2.49), and frequent heavy drinking (OR = 2.32; 1.73 to 3.09), beyond child and parent confounders and using CEM methods.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents who were allowed to drink were more likely to have transitioned quickly from their first drink to consuming 5 or more drinks at 1 time and to drinking heavily 3 or more times in the past year. Given well-documented harms of adolescent heavy drinking, these results do not support the idea that parents allowing children to drink alcohol inoculates them against alcohol misuse.

Very early drinking: Event history models predicting alcohol use initiation from age 4 to 11 years

While it is not normative to initiate alcohol use prior to adolescence, substantial numbers of children do so. However, relatively little is known about the prevalence or predictors of alcohol initiation in childhood, compared to extensive research on adolescent initiation and alcohol use. The present study examines patterns and predictors of very early drinking initiation in childhood, focusing on child behavioral undercontrol and parent alcohol and drug use as time-varying risk factors across childhood, independent of sociodemographic background variables. Event history analyses model and predict the age of alcohol initiation across ages 4 to 11 in the ongoing Millennium Cohort Study. Methodological strengths include the prospective design initiated in infancy (prior to any alcohol consumption), multiple reporters, and large representative sample of children and parents (n = 11,355). Key predictors are child behavioral undercontrol and parent alcohol and drug use assessed across childhood. Weighted results show that <2% of children had their first drink of alcohol prior to their 8th birthday, rising to 13% by age 10-11 years. Odds of initiation are higher when parents rated children as behaviorally undercontrolled and when at least one parent in the household reported drinking alcohol and/or using illegal drugs, independent of sociodemographic group differences. Thus, an important minority initiated drinking during childhood, and there are key risk factors for early drinking. Increased focus on the epidemiology, etiology, and prevention of childhood drinking is needed.

Parental drinking and characteristics of family life as predictors of preschoolers' alcohol-related knowledge and norms

While risky drinking in adolescence has been found to be rooted in childhood, evidence is scarce regarding where early alcohol-related knowledge originates. This study investigates preschoolers' alcohol-related knowledge about beverage names, content and social norms (i.e. drinking to be common among men and at parties) depending on parental alcohol consumption patterns and characteristics of family life. In French-speaking Switzerland, 214 three to six year olds completed the electronic Appropriate Beverage Task (Kuntsche, Le Mével, & Zucker, 2016) while their parents (205 mothers, 154 fathers) were surveyed with a questionnaire. The results showed that when parents drank frequently, at higher quantity, or during meals, their children knew more about the names of alcoholic beverages and the social norms of consumption. No effect was found for parental binge drinking or living in a single-parent household. Frequent contact with adults outside the immediate family (visits from relatives and going to fairs and neighborhood parties) but not television viewing was associated with both knowing the name and the alcoholic content of alcoholic beverages. To conclude, this study indicates that the knowledge of children aged three to six about the content, name and consumption norms of alcoholic beverages does not only depend on the drinking frequency and quantity of their parents, but also on contact with adults outside the immediate family. When frequently surrounded by alcohol-consuming adults, children may get the impression that alcohol consumption is a common human behavior, which may put them at risk for early alcohol initiation and risky drinking later in life.

Parents Who Allow Early Adolescents to Drink

PURPOSE

Previous research on community samples reveals that a sizeable minority of parents allow their early adolescent children to drink alcohol. The present study documents in a national longitudinal study the prevalence of parents allowing 14-year-olds to drink and examines variation by sociodemographic background and parent alcohol use.

METHODS

Children and parents (n = 10,210 families) participating in the ongoing Millennium Cohort Study provided self-report data from when the child was an infant to age 14 years.

RESULTS

About 17% of parents allowed their early adolescents to drink. Employed, more educated, and non-abstaining parents of white children were more likely to permit early adolescent drinking. Permitting alcohol use did not vary by child gender, teenage or single parenthood, or variation in parental drinking level.

CONCLUSIONS

Socioeconomically advantaged, non-abstaining parents evidence a more permissive attitude about early drinking, which is a risk factor for early initiation, heavier use, and other problem behaviors.

Early alcohol use with parental permission: Psychosocial characteristics and drinking in late adolescence

The earliest experiences with alcohol for many children occur in the family context with parental supervision. The current study examined individual and sociocultural characteristics associated with early (prior to age 13years) sipping and tasting alcohol with parental permission in two longitudinal community samples. Early sipping/tasting was also tested as a predictor of frequency and quantity of alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems seven years later in late adolescence. Early sipping/tasting with parental permission was associated with a sociocultural context supportive of alcohol use (e.g., parental alcohol use, permissive rules about alcohol use in the home, parental attitudes about underage drinking, perceived peer norms), adolescent sensation seeking and disinhibition (e.g., surgency, externalizing behavior) and appraisals of alcohol (negative outcome expectancies and negative implicit alcohol associations). Early sipping/tasting predicted increased frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, and increased alcohol-related problems in late adolescence, even after controlling sociocultural and individual difference variables. Findings suggest that early sipping/tasting with parental permission is not benign and is a viable target for preventive interventions.