Research report no.10 2004
Parenting influences on adolescent alcohol use
by Louise Hayes, Diana Smart, John W. Toumbourou and Ann Sanson
Foreword
While there is widespread acknowledgement of the problem of adolescent abuse of alcohol, the pathways to it remain contentious. The influence of parents on these pathways has been unclear. This report, Parenting Influences on Adolescent Alcohol Use, provides invaluable new insights into the influences that parents exert on adolescent alcohol use.
The report's messages have an elegant clarity and answer a number of key questions. Among these are: Should parents delay adolescents' introduction to alcohol? What role do parents play in guiding responsible alcohol use? How do parents exert an influence? What other sources of influence are there - for example, from peers, the wider culture and the media? Which interventions have been demonstrated to work, and how widely available are these in Australia?
This report provides answers to these questions. For example, it demonstrates the long-term benefits of delaying adolescents' uptake of alcohol. It also shows the ways in which parents can guide patterns of use once adolescents have started consuming alcohol. It explodes a popular myth that parents have little impact in this area by showing that they can and do influence their offspring's alcohol use, especially through their supervision and monitoring behaviours, the closeness of their relationships with their children, and through positive behaviour management practices. While parents have a greater influence than many would admit, the peer group, cultural norms, and the law also play substantial roles. Successful modification of the patterns of teenage drinking will need to target all these spheres of influence.
While there is very little Australian research and very few intervention programs with proven success, this report shows some productive ways forward, both through investment in research and evaluation, and the implementation of evidence-based interventions.
The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing is to be congratulated for this most valuable investment in addressing an issue of such widespread community concern. The authors of the report, Louise Hayes, Diana Smart, John Toumbourou and Ann Sanson, are to be especially commended on completing a significant and groundbreaking report.
This volume should provide an excellent resource for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers, to work together to address a social issue of urgent priority. I am delighted that the Australian Institute of Family Studies could contribute to such a productive collaboration and look forward to its impacts on policy and practice.
Professor Alan Hayes
Director
Australian Institute of Family Studies
About the authors
Dr Louise Hayes is currently leading a project for the Ballarat Health Service which is examining the effectiveness of community-wide early intervention programs for children with emerging disruptive behaviour disorders. Prior to this, she was a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Victorian Parenting Centre. Louise's research interests include parenting, adolescent and child development; with a special interest in working with families who are experiencing child behaviour problems or parenting difficulties. Her specialty research area is parental monitoring of adolescent free time activity.
Mrs Diana Smart is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and has been the Project Manager for the Australian Temperament Project since 1988. Her research interests are adolescent and youth development, transitions to young adulthood, developmental pathways and transition points, and the fostering of social competence and social responsibility. Prior to joining the Australian Temperament Project, Diana was a researcher with the Victorian Education Department's Curriculum and Research Branch and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's Education Unit, and she lectured in Psychology at Rusden Teachers College.
Associate Professor John W. Toumbourou is a senior researcher at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital, and a member of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. He is a founding member and the current Chair of the College of Health Psychologists within the Australian Psychological Society. John is a principal investigator on a number of studies investigating healthy youth development, including the Australian Temperament Project and the International Youth Development Study (a collaborative longitudinal study with the University of Washington), and has been involved in the development of a number of youth health promotion programs.
Associate Professor Ann Sanson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Melbourne, where her teaching and research have been in the areas of developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology and conflict resolution. She was formerly Acting Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and is the project director for Growing Up in Australia (the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children) and a leading investigator of the Australian Temperament Project. Ann is a fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, and has had leadership roles within the society including terms as Vice-President and Director of Social Issues.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr Catherine Spooner of the National Drug and Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, and Associate Professor Alan Ralph of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland, for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this Report. Any misinterpretations or errors contained in the report are the responsibility of the authors.