There is no evidence that parents supplying alcohol to adolescents will protect them from later alcohol harms, according to a report by researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. In fact, the opposite appears true.
The report also found that parental supply of just ‘sips’ of alcohol is associated with increased risks of adverse alcohol outcomes relative to no supply, according to material published by UNSW on 14 August.
Lead author, Alexandra Aiken said: “Whilst many parents may supply sips of alcohol to their underage children as a harm reduction strategy, results shows that supply of sips exists on a continuum of increasing risk of adverse outcomes.”
The research
Data were analysed from the Australian Parental Supply of Alcohol Longitudinal Study (APSALS) cohort of 1,910 adolescents and their parents, recruited in the first year of secondary school and followed up annually over seven years.
“Parental supply of sips in one year was associated with increased risk of binge drinking and alcohol-related harms a year later, compared with no supply. As the quantity of alcohol supplied increased, so too did the risk of adverse outcomes,” said Aiken.
‘Sipping’ is the most common form of alcohol consumption among children and young adolescents, is usually supervised, and is associated with child perceptions of parental approval and familial modelling of alcohol behaviours.
“While parents supplying larger amounts of alcohol is associated with worse outcomes, even supplying relatively small quantities such as sips increases the risk of adverse outcomes for adolescents relative to no supply,” Aiken said.
“Relative to no parental supply, parental supply of even small amounts of alcohol in early adolescence may hasten alcohol initiation, may be perceived by children as permissiveness and approval, and may reduce barriers to alcohol use, all of which in turn might encourage further alcohol consumption.”
Alcohol consumption is a leading contributor to the disease burden amongst adolescents and young adults and is linked to a range of acute negative health outcomes including the development of alcohol use disorder.
“We believe there is now a strong case for the development of a parent-based intervention focussed on reducing parental provision of alcohol to their children, including the provision of sips.”
Parental supply of sips and whole drinks of alcohol to adolescents and associations with binge drinking and alcohol-related harms: A prospective cohort study
Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Published online on 5 August 2020.
Authors
Alexandra Aiken, Philip J Clare, Veronica C Boland, Louise Degenhardt, Wing See Yuen, Delyse Hutchinson, Jakob Najman, Jim McCambridge, Tim Slade, Nyanda McBride, Clara De Torres, Monika Wadolowski, Raymondo Bruno, Kypros Kypri, Richard P Mattick and Amy Peacock.
The authors are form the University of New South Wales, Deakin University, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, Curtin University, University of Tasmania, University of Newcastle, and the University of York in the United Kingdom.
Highlights
- We found no evidence that parental supply of alcohol has a protective effect.
- Parental supply of sips associated with increased risks of adverse alcohol outcomes.
- Supply of larger quantities associated with an increasing risk of adverse outcomes.
Abstract
Parents frequently supply alcohol to their children, often only sips. We investigated whether supply of sips and whole drinks, from parents and other sources, are differentially associated with subsequent drinking outcomes.
Methods
A cohort of 1,910 adolescents (mean age 12.9yrs) were surveyed annually over seven years from 2010-11.
We examined prospective, adjusted associations between the quantity of supply from parental and non-parental sources in the preceding 12 months and five outcomes in the subsequent year, over several consecutive years: binge drinking; alcohol-related harms; symptoms of alcohol abuse, dependence and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Results
In early waves, most parental supply comprised sips, while supply of whole drinks increased in later waves. Among those not receiving alcohol from other sources, parental supply of sips was associated with increased odds of binge drinking (OR: 1.85; 99.5% CI: 1.17-2.91) and alcohol-related harms (OR: 1.70; 99.5% CI: 1.20-2.42), but not with reporting symptoms of alcohol abuse, dependence or AUD, compared with no supply.
Relative to no supply, supply of sips from other sources was associated with increased odds of binge drinking (OR: 2.04; 99.5% CI: 1.14-3.67) only. Compared with supply of sips, supply of whole drinks by parents or others had higher odds of binge drinking, alcohol-related harms, symptoms of dependence and of AUD.
Secondary analysis demonstrated that supply of larger quantities was associated with an increased risk of all outcomes.
Conclusion
Parental provision of sips is associated with increased risks and the supply of greater quantities was associated with an increasing risk of adverse outcomes.
[link url="https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/news/no-evidence-parents-supplying-alcohol-adolescents-has-protective-effect-new-report-finds"]No evidence that parents supplying alcohol to adolescents has a protective effect, new report finds[/link]
[link url="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620303690?via%3Dihub"]Parental supply of sips and whole drinks of alcohol to adolescents and associations with binge drinking and alcohol-related harms: A prospective cohort study[/link]