Communities That Care

Posted on December 17, 2008

Report IDs “Problem Parents”

"Although virtually all mothers and fathers are concerned about the challenges of raising their kids in today’s world, many fail to take essential actions to prevent their kids from smoking, drinking or using drugs," according to a report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA).

Using data from a national telephone survey of teens and parents, CASA defined "problem parents" as those who fail to 1) monitor their children’s school night activities; 2) safeguard prescription drugs in the home; 3) address the problem of drugs in schools; and 4) set a good example.

Failure to Monitor School Night Socializing

* Nearly one-half (46%) of teens say that they typically go out with friends on school nights, while only 14% of parents say that their teens do so.

* Once out, 53% of teens come home between 8:00 and 10:00 PM and 15% come home later.

* The later teens stay out, the more likely they are to use alcohol or other drugs—even among older teens. Nearly one-third of those who come home between 8 and 10PM, and 50% of those who come home after 10PM say there’s alcohol or drug use among the kids they are with.

Failure to Safeguard Prescription Drugs

*One-third of teens who know someone who abuses prescription drugs say that the person gets the drugs from parents, home, or medicine cabinets.

Failure to Address Drugs in Schools

* One-third of parents think that the presence of drugs in school does not make it more likely that their child will use drugs. Yet previous surveys have found that teens attending schools where drugs are used, kept, or sold are 5 times more likely to use marijuana, 15 times more likely to use prescription drugs, and 16 times more likely to use another illegal drug.

Failure to Set a Good Example

* One-fourth of all teens know a parent of a classmate or friend who uses marijuana—and 10% say that this parent smokes with people the teens’ age.

According to CASA, "by identifying the characteristics of these problem parents, we hope to identify actions that parents can take—and avoid—in order to raise healthy, drug-free children and become part of the solution"

SOURCE: December 1, 2008 CESAR FAX by the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) at the Univesity of Maryland, College Park. For more info visit: www.cesar.umd.edu. The CASA report can be found at http://www.casacolumbia.org/articlefiles/380-2008%20Teen%20Survey%20Report.pdf

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