Alcohol Consumption--Does the Apple Fall Far from the Tree?: To Investigate the Relationship between Parental Attitudes and Alcohol Consumption and Adolescent Alcohol Consumption

Overview

A recent study showed that over half of Irish adults drink hazardously. Adolescents report increased levels of alcohol consumption. Previous research has inferred the influence of the parent on their adolescent. Thus the aim of the current study was to investigate the association between adolescent alcohol consumption and their parent’s consumption pattern and attitude toward alcohol use. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken. This involved distributing a questionnaire to pupils in their final two years of second level education from a local electorate area in Southern Ireland. The survey was carried out during the second term of the academic year 2014-15. Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression were utilised to investigate the impact of parent attitude and consumption on adolescent consumption. 47% of all parents surveyed were hazardous drinkers while over one-third of all adolescents reported hazardous drinking (34.2%). Over 90% of parents disagreed with allowing their adolescent to get drunk and rejected the idea that getting drunk is part of having fun as an adolescent. 42.8% of parents agreed with granting permission to their adolescent to drink on special occasions. Using multivariate logistic regression and applying backward elimination with three control factors we discovered that the main parental factors which impact hazardous adolescent alcohol consumption were as follows: hazardous drinking by the father, the father permitting his adolescent to drink alcohol on special occasions and the mother granting her adolescent permission to drink alcohol on special occasions. The findings of our research note a liberal attitude to alcohol and increased levels of consumption by the parent are linked to hazardous adolescent drinking behaviour.

Competition history

• ISEF 2016 Systems Software · Entry BEHA006T

Resources

• ISEF abstract page ↗

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