Parents Have an Impact

Although many parents think talking to their children about alcohol and drugs has little effect, a recent survey seems to indicate the kids are actually listening.

More parents are talking with their children about drugs more often, and they appear to be having an impact, according to a national study released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA).

"Parents are, in no small measure, one of the reasons why adolescent drug use is finally stabilizing and, in some measures, declining,” said Richard D. Bonnette, president & CEO of the Partnership. “With teenagers, many things go in one ear and out the other. But what parents are saying about drugs appears to be sticking.”

Released today via the Internet, the 1999 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) surveyed 800 parents across the country (margin of error = +/- 4.6 percent). The nationally-projectable study, conducted by Audits & Surveys Worldwide Inc. for PDFA, found the following:

• More than half (57 percent) of all parents now say they spoke with their children about drugs at least four times in the past year, up significantly from 1998 (44 percent), an increase of 30 percent.
• Parents are more likely to say they’ve covered drugs “thoroughly” (64 percent agreed in 1999, up significantly from 52 percent in 1998, for an increase of 23 percent).
• Parents are more likely to talk with their children about specific risks associated with drugs. For example, more parents are talking about how drugs can: mess us their child’s mind (73 percent in 1999, up significantly from 61 percent in 1998); adversely affect a child’s education (68 percent in 1999, up significantly from 58 percent in 1998); and adversely affect a child’s life (74 percent in 1999, up significantly from 63 percent in 1998).

And parents appear to be having an impact. According to a national survey of 6,529 teenagers released by the Partnership in late November, teen attitudes about drugs are now changing for the better and teen drug use is leveling off and/or declining.

Next page > Drug Use Increasing > Page 1, 2 > 3

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