Adolescent alcohol useThe role of parents and schools

Mark McCann, Kathryn Higgins, Oliver Perra, Aisling McLaughlin, Claire McCartan

Institute of Child Care ResearchQueen’s University Belfast

The research context• Alcohol misuse is a major contributor to societal

problems• Addressing these is a social responsibility• Public should decide how to intervene

Unintended consequences of intervening• Ineffective interventions

• Waste of time, money, resources, and potentially;• Parent focused interventions

• Back seat parenting / egg sucking lessons• Individual focused interventions

• Reality testing, conceptualising risk• School focused interventions

• Reinforcing social disconnections

A social theory for intervention• The social environment:• Provides or prevents exposure to novel

behaviours

• Positively or negatively reinforces individual behaviour

Across adolescence• The influence of parents on a child’s behaviour

wanes• Outside-home influences (school and peers)

become more important• But, to what extent do children exert influence

on their environment?

Stage 1: Family environment• Does parental monitoring reduce alcohol

use?• Or perhaps adolescent alcohol use affects

levels of parental monitoring? • What aspects of monitoring are most

important?

Stage 2: School environment• What difference does choice of school make

on drinking rates?• How does school environment affect

adolescent drinking?

The Belfast Youth Development Study• Around 5,000 young people• 43 mainstream schools, three towns • Also some alternative education provision• 5 sweeps of annual data collection during

compulsory education (age 11 – 15)• Two more sweeps at age 17 and age 21

Study variables• Alcohol use

• Doesn’t drink / rarely / monthly / weekly or more

• Parental Monitoring• Stattin & Kerr’s monitoring measures

• Other factors• Gender, Mental Health, Living arrangements, Affluence,

parental attachment

What is parental monitoring?• Knowledge of your children’s activities

• “What have you been doing?” • “Tell me and you can go out” • “Oh, tell me more”

Alcohol Year 1

Alcohol Year 2

Alcohol Year 3

Alcohol Year 4

Alcohol Year 5

MonitoringYear 1

MonitoringYear 2

MonitoringYear 3

MonitoringYear 4

MonitoringYear 5

4.573.182.912.87Drinkers continue to drink

If you drank a lot at age 11then you’re much more likely to drink

frequently at age 12

The effect is stronger at older ages, but less marked at younger ages

34%36%32%29%

Alcohol Year 1

Alcohol Year 2

Alcohol Year 3

Alcohol Year 4

Alcohol Year 5

MonitoringYear 1

MonitoringYear 2

MonitoringYear 3

MonitoringYear 4

MonitoringYear 5

Monitoring reduces drinking

If you were monitored heavily at age 11you're less likely to drink frequently at age 12

The effect is reasonably stable at all ages

0.560.550.510.43

Alcohol Year 1

Alcohol Year 2

Alcohol Year 3

Alcohol Year 4

Alcohol Year 5

MonitoringYear 1

MonitoringYear 2

MonitoringYear 3

MonitoringYear 4

MonitoringYear 5

Parental monitoring is consistent

If you were monitored heavily at age 11then you’re much more likely to be monitored

at age 12

The effect is reasonably stable at all ages

-0.05-0.07-0.11-0.15

Alcohol Year 1

Alcohol Year 2

Alcohol Year 3

Alcohol Year 4

Alcohol Year 5

MonitoringYear 1

MonitoringYear 2

MonitoringYear 3

MonitoringYear 4

MonitoringYear 5

Drinking reduces monitoring

If you drank a lot at age 11then you’re less likely to be monitored at age

12

The effect is stronger at younger ages, and almost disappears at older ages

Stage 1: Parental monitoring• Greater monitoring of younger children’s

behaviour tends to reduce the frequency with which they drink alcohol

• The effect is stable across time, from age 11 to age 16

Stage 1: Alcohol use• Drinking at an early age reduces levels of

parental monitoring• But late adolescent drinking doesn’t affect

parent-child dynamic to the same extent

Stage 1: Where to intervene• Interrupting drinking trajectories

• Prevent or delay drinking in early adolescence• At older ages, preventive approaches may be

• Ineffective for drinkers• Redundant for non-drinkers

Aspects of monitoring

• “What have you been doing?” No influence• “Tell me and you can go out” More important• “Oh, tell me more” Most important

Intervening in the family• Parental monitoring is a potential target

• But…..

Relationships & behaviourParental

attachment

Monitoring

Parental attachment

Monitoring

Alcohol use

Relationships & behaviour

Parental Control

Parental attachment

Child disclosure

Parental Control

Child disclosure

Parental attachment

Alcohol use

Stage 1: Where to intervene• Parent interventions

• Facilitate high levels of monitoring• Encourage positive emotional support• Encourage parent-led (rather than relationship-led)

moves towards autonomy and independence• …………Before it’s too late?

Stage 2: School environment• What difference does choice of school make

on drinking rates?• How does school environment affect

adolescent drinking?

Pre

dict

ed m

ean

odds

of d

rinki

ng

Schools in order of increasing drinking frequency

School variation in drinking rates

Pre

dict

ed d

rinki

ng ra

te

Parental Monitoring

Blue - Never | Red - Rarely | Green - Monthly | Yellow - Weekly

Drinking rates: Pupil, School & Parent variation

Pre

dict

ed

mea

n od

ds o

f drin

kin

g

Monitoring score

Frequent drinkers only: School and Monitoring

School characteristics• What is the effect of:

• The proportion of frequent drinkers in the school? • The average level of parental monitoring? • Other characteristics of the school?

School characteristicsBoys Girls

Boys School 50%

Girls school 52%Co-Ed 42% 42%

School characteristics• Does the effect of monitoring vary between schools?• Does the effect of parental attachment vary between

schools?• Does the effect of gender vary between schools?• Does the effect of deprivation vary between schools?

School characteristics• Pupils in single gender schools drink more

frequently• School ethos also likely to be important• Little evidence that home and school life ‘interact’

to affect alcohol use

Conclusions• Family has a strong influences

• Evidence suggests: enhance monitoring well in advance of a child’s opportunity to drink

• Schools are important• Evidence suggests: school environment and ethos

influence drinking (rather than being in with a ‘drinking crowd’)

Careful now…• Parent attachment paradox

• Inverse association between good relationships, and parental monitoring

• Schools are not just groups of pupils• Ethos and environmental factors

Future research & practice“See first that the design is wise and just; that

ascertained, pursue it resolutely” - Shakespeare

• Develop a theory• Assess local evidence • Build an intervention to suit

Thank you for listening• Email: Mark.McCann@qub.ac.uk

• Facebook: Mark.McCann.18• Twitter: @Mark_ICCR