Youngsters drink more when parents don’t mind

College students who think their parents are more accepting of drinking tend to drink more, a new study shows. Researchers asked students about their drinking habits and how much they believed their parents were accepting of them drinking during their first four years of college. They found that the more students thought their parents approved, the more alcohol the students tended to drink.

The study, which appears in Addictive Behaviours, suggests that parents can still influence their children well into young adulthood, says Jennifer Maggs, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State.

“In the early years of college, parents can still play a role in providing positive feedback and encouragement for young adult students to make healthy lifestyle choices. One part of this can be supporting safe choices about drinking alcohol, and not reinforcing or making jokes about college being a crazy time when everyone takes risks without consequences.”

The researchers used surveys from 687 Penn State students that asked about the students’ drinking habits and how much they believed their parents would approve of them drinking, gathering data at regular check points across four years of college. The analysis showed that the more students believed their parents approved of them drinking, the more alcohol they tended to drink.

Brian Calhoun, a graduate student in human development and family studies said, “Many students might have had parents who didn’t approve of drinking in high school, but when they went to college or got closer to turning 21, they believed that their parents’’ attitudes relaxed and students” drinking increased.