Associations of Substance-Specific Parenting With Substance Use in the Offspring: A Meta-Analysis

Parental behaviors have been suggested to affect substance use in their offspring. The present meta-analysis examines associations between five types of substance-specific parental behaviors and the offspring's consumption of psychoactive substances.

Studies were identified through a systematic search of the electronic databases PsycInfo, Medline, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, and cross-referencing. Hierarchical meta-analyses were computed on 770 studies using a random-effects model.

Permissive parental attitudes showed the strongest association with substance use in their offspring (r = .222; confidence interval [CI] [.203, .240]), followed by parental consumption (r = .157; CI [.149, .165]) and parental provision of substances to the offspring (r = .140; CI [.083, .196]). Parental substance-specific control was associated with lower use (r = -.165; CI [-.194, -.135]), whereas associations between parent-child communication about substance use and youth consumption varied depending on the content of the communication. The analysis of cross-lagged associations found very small bidirectional links between parenting and youth consumption. Moderating effects were found for the type of substance (alcohol, nicotine, cannabis/mixed), child age and gender, and whether analyses focused on the parental dyad rather than individual parents.

Substance-specific parenting is a relevant target for prevention and intervention. However, to optimize outcomes, multiple parental behaviors should be addressed, and parent-focused interventions may be combined with offspring-focused interventions.