Previous research has shown that parents have a large influence on emerging drinking behaviors during students’ first year of college. A new study investigated whether parents continue to play a role in drinking behaviors later in college.
To measure this, a recent study surveyed students during their first and fourth years. This study asked students to report their parental permissiveness of alcohol use, parental monitoring, and drinking behaviors. The study also asked about consequences faced as a result of alcohol use, risky drinking, and peer norms.
The results of this study showed that parental permissiveness of alcohol use was positively related to drinking during the first and fourth years of college. Parental permissiveness was also positively associated with consequences at both time points, and students whose parents were more permissive towards their alcohol use experienced 4-5 more consequences as a result of drinking. Parental monitoring of students behavior did not have an impact on drinking during either year.
This study shows that parents continue to influence their college age children’s’ drinking behaviors through the 4th year of college. Even as students get older and can legally drink, expressing low permissiveness may lead to less use of alcohol in college students.
Take Away: Parental permissiveness of alcohol use is related to use of alcohol by college students in their 1st through 4th years of college.
Mallett, K., Turrisi, R., Reavy, R., Russell, M., Cleveland, M.J., et al. (2019). An Examination of Parental Permissiveness of Alcohol Use and Monitoring, and their Association with Emerging Adult Drinking Outcomes across College. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. doi.org/10.1111/acer.13978.