The Mitigating Effects of Protective Parenting on Level of Adolescent Substance Use Risk

Background: Protective parenting clearly reduces the risk of substance use among young people, but its relationship with cumulative risk for substance use, or the number of risk factors a young person experiences, has not been examined. Objectives: The analysis explores how protective parenting is associated with cumulative risk for adolescent substance use. Methods: A nationally representative online survey of adolescents ages 12-17 (N = 965; 50.8% male; 49.2% female) explored the role of a number of protective parenting variables in predicting substance use risk among adolescents. Parenting behaviors, such as providing warmth, trust, and emotional support; spending time together; communicating about substance use; and monitoring were considered protective. Risk factors included having close friends who use substances, witnessing use, low perceptions of harm, unreliable sources of information about substances, perceived access, and lying to parents. Results: 21.7% of respondents reported 0-1 risk factors, 27.6% reported 2-3 risk factors, and 50.7% reported 4 or more risk factors. Controlling for demographics, a protective parenting composite measure of trust, warmth, and emotional support was associated with decreased risk of reporting 4 or more risk factors (0.45 RRR, p<.05) and spending time together was associated with decreased risk of reporting 2-3 and 4 or more risk factors compared to 0-1 risk factors (0.42 RRR, p<.05; 0.43 RRR, p<.05). Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of protective parenting in mitigating the cumulative risk for youth substance use. Involving parents in prevention efforts should be a routine component of prevention practice, especially for youth at higher risk.