Parents: Talk to Your Teens About Drinking Before They Start College
Parents who discuss drinking with their teens before they
start college can influence their children’s drinking behavior once they
are at school, a new study suggests.
A parental talk can reduce the chances that light drinkers will
become heavier drinkers, and increase the odds that teens who already
drink heavily will reduce their drinking or stop, Time.com reports.
Effective strategies can include discussing why some teens drink and
others don’t, and the potential dangers of drinking too much, the
article notes.
The study included 1,900 students and their parents, who were
surveyed in the summer before the teens started college, and again in
the fall of the teens’ freshman and sophomore years. The parents were
divided into four groups. One group was given a handbook to guide
discussions. The book provided tips on starting casual and nonjudgmental
conversations, as well as information on the risks of underage
drinking.
A second group used the handbook, as well as “booster” discussions. A
third group did not talk about drinking with their children until they
had already begun school, and a fourth group was not given any
instructions on talking with their children about drinking.
Before the study began, 51 percent of students described themselves
as nondrinkers, 30 percent said they drank heavily on some weekends, and
15 percent drank moderately on weekends. An additional 5 percent said
they were frequent, heavy drinkers. After 15 months of college, only 25
percent were nondrinkers and 29 percent were heavy drinkers.
Students whose parents talked to them about drinking before they left
for school were 20 times more likely to have healthier drinking
patterns, including not drinking at all, than they were to stay heavy
drinkers 15 months later.
The researchers found parental talks were effective only if they took place before students left for college.
The study appears in the Journal of Studies of Alcohol and Drugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment