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Recommended: Alcohol and the effects on college students

Binge drinking is believed to be a major problem on college campuses in the U.S. Researchers have questioned the motives young adults have for engaging in risky alcohol use. The negative results related to binge drinking have led to numerous studies in search of successful alcohol intervention approaches. Some have focused on the relationships between peer influences, academic class and alcohol availability as causes, while others have concentrated on parenting styles. The level of parent-teen communication has been observed as a factor relating to frequency and amount of alcohol consumption (Turrisi et al, 2009). Individuals who have more communication with their parents about negative aspects of alcohol use, hold less positive beliefs about alcohol and experience fewer alcohol related consequences (2009). Parenting significantly influences drinking during the college years.
Research suggests that parents are active in the plans of students as they prepare for college, and they maintain influence after the student has moved to campus by educating and clearly stating rules and expectations. In addition, they provide them with encouragement, emotional support and health information (Abar and Tursini, 2009). Studies showed that parents who educated their college teens about binge drinking before they began college, engaged in significantly lower levels of alcohol use (2009). The present study questions whether parents directly influence decision making regarding alcohol use through communication of expectations, setting limits, and the examples set through modeled behavior. It is also questioned whether setting a no alcohol rule leads to lower or higher use of alcohol among young adults.

College students from the ages of 18-25 ha...

... middle of paper ...

...rmitted relatively low levels of teen drinking. Young adults with more permissive parents drank significantly more and experienced more negative consequences associated with alcohol consumption.
Kusmierski and his colleagues conducted a study that included a national sample of 17,600 students at 140 colleges and universities. The students were given a survey asking about their current drinking habits and asked how they perceived their parent’s style of parenting. They found that teenagers who had parents with strict rules about alcohol were less likely to binge drink.
The present study will focus on parental alcohol rules and how it affects college students binge drinking. The study will not only focus on parental permissibility, but also the parents modeled behavior. Parenting style and poor communication, as causes for unhealthy teenage drinking will be analyzed.

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