Are you listening? Parental protective factors and early onset drinking among students with disabilities in Delaware

Little is known about substance use disorder risk among youth with disabilities. The Delaware YRBS collects data on substance use and disability indicators. Data suggest that students with disabilities have a younger average age of onset for alcohol use, and therefore may be more at risk for developing an alcohol use disorder later in life.

To explore the relationship between parental listening and the age of substance use initiation among students with disabilities.

Using the 2017 Delaware High School YRBS, we conducted a logistic regression analysis to test whether there was a relationship between parental listening and early onset alcohol use among students with disabilities. Early onset drinking was operationalized as first drink at age 14 or younger, and sex, race, mother's highest level of education, and LGBTQ status were included in the model as demographic control variables.

Both disability status and parental listening were statistically significant predictors of early onset alcohol use. Having an emotional or learning disability was positively associated with self-reported alcohol use before the age of 15, while reporting that parents always or almost always listened to them was negatively associated with student alcohol use prior to 15.

Findings suggested a relationship between parental listening and early onset alcohol use among high school students with and without disabilities. This did not fully explain the disparity in rates of early onset use among students with disabilities. The authors suggest additional analysis of other potential protective factors and emphasize the need for robust national data collection on disabilities.