Examining the Relationship Between Parental Monitoring, Peer Substance Use and Tolerance of Use, and Drinking Frequency in Adolescents

Background and Purpose: Research suggests parental monitoring is a protective factor (Borawski, Ievers-Landis, Lovegreen, & Trapel, 2003; Ryan, Jorm, & Lubman, 2010), and peer substance use and peer tolerance of use are risk factors (Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992), for alcohol use in adolescents. Some studies have demonstrated peers have a more profound impact on this association (Bahr, Hoffman, & Yang, 2005), while other research has found parents to be more influential in this relationship (Steinberg, Fletcher, & Darling, 1994). These conflicting findings suggest the need for further exploration of the two variables in relation to their effect on alcohol use in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to test the association between parental monitoring and adolescent drinking frequency and to test whether peer use/tolerance of use mediates this relationship. We first hypothesized that parental monitoring would be negatively related to adolescent drinking frequency, and second, that peer use/tolerance of use would mediate this relationship.

Methods: Participants were recruited from a hospital emergency department and the surrounding community in the northeastern United States. Participants in this study included 113 adolescents (54% female; M_age = 15.6) who endorsed drinking in the past 6 months. Adolescent drinking frequency at 6 months was measured using the sum of the first four questions of the Adolescent Drinking Questionnaire (ADQ), parental monitoring at baseline was measured using the Strictness/Supervision Scale (SSS), and the mediating variable of peer use/tolerance of use at 3 months was measured using a sum of the Peer Substance Use and Peer Tolerance of Substance Use scales. Regression analyses, including mediation analyses (Preacher & Hayes, 2004), were used to test hypotheses.

Results: Results demonstrated the total effect of parental monitoring at baseline on drinking frequency at 6 months, using standardized coefficients, was .21 (p < .05), with higher monitoring related to lower drinking frequency. This effect was mediated by peer use/tolerance at 3 months, such that the magnitude of the effect was .20, (p < .001); after controlling for this effect, the remainder of the direct effect was .01.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings from this study supported the first hypothesis, which was consistent with previous studies demonstrating associations between parental monitoring and decreased alcohol use among adolescents. The second hypothesis was also supported, in that peer substance use/tolerance of use mediated the relationship between parental monitoring and adolescent drinking frequency. While extensive research has examined peer and parental influence on adolescent alcohol use independently, limited research has studied the relationship between three variables. This study fills this gap in knowledge by demonstrating that although the level of parental monitoring is a protective factor for drinking frequency in adolescents, its effect may be explained by the influence it has on the peers that adolescents choose to socialize with, and whether or not those peers use alcohol and/or tolerate the adolescent’s use of alcohol. Moreover, the findings point to the potential importance of the role of peers in future prevention and intervention efforts for adolescent alcohol use.