Good parenting practices can be a long-lasting gift

A coalition member recently shared the following with me:

Youth who are characterized as impulsive risk takers are known to be at increased risk for alcohol use and dependence over their lifetimes. For them, deliberate family management practices have been shown to disrupt the relationship between youth risk and adult alcohol use.

Research conducted by the Social Development Research Group of over 800 youth and reported in Drug and Alcohol Dependence (2010) shows that specific family management practices in early adolescence protect against the effects of impulsive risk taking on alcohol abuse and dependence in adulthood.

Good family management is expressed in multiple ways:

-- Consistent parental monitoring to know where and whom the adolescent child is with.

-- Clear family rules.

-- Norms that guide social activities are understood and discussed calmly between parent and child.

These findings support the use of interventions that strengthen family management in early adolescence, particularly for youth who are prone to impulsive, risk-taking behavior. Read the research brief, Family Management Matters: Adolescent Risk Taking and the Development of Adult Alcohol Use Disorders.

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Note: Strengthening Families, a program the helps parents develop good parenting practices, will be offered at Eckstein Middle School in the new year. Information about the program will be posted on this blog and on the Prevention WINS website.