Parental provision of alcohol to adolescent children and peer influence linked to subsequent alcohol harms

Parental supply of alcohol is a relatively common practice in Australia, believed by some parents to be an effective means of teaching their children to drink responsibly. New research shows that family and peer factors each play a role in the development of excessive and risky drinking in early adulthood and associated harms. These results and others will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.

American Indian Teens Who Anticipate Future Affiliation with their Native Culture Experience Fewer Negative Consequences of Drinking

American Indian (AI) adolescents who expect to relate strongly to their racial culture in the future are less likely than their peers to experience negative alcohol outcomes – like fighting with friends, being arrested, and memory gaps – even if they do not relate strongly to their culture now, a new study suggests. Although AI communities overall have higher rates of abstention from alcohol than other racial groups, AI teens are particularly vulnerable to drinking and its negative consequences. This may be related to cultural identity, which is known to influence substance use.

Observing mothers’ negative experiences with drink may normalize alcohol risks for adolescent children

Adolescents’ expectations of drinking – whether they anticipate having positive or negative experiences with alcohol – are an important influence on their drinking behavior. For example, those with stronger ‘positive expectancies’ are more likely to start drinking at a young age and to have problems with alcohol. Parental drinking can be an important factor in shaping alcohol expectancies in early adolescence, before a young person starts using alcohol. Studies indicate that children of parents with high levels of alcohol use, and/or an alcohol use disorder (AUD), tend to have stronger positive expectancies of alcohol. However, some evidence suggests that observing the undesirable effects of their parents’ high-risk drinking could lead to ‘negative expectancies’, although this link is uncertain. Researchers from Arizona State University have conducted a new study, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, assessing whether the observable negative effects