“Parents Need Extra Support With Drug and Alcohol Discussions
as Kids Develop Into Teens”

The Partnership’s national survey reveals that parents’ need for useful information and help talking about drugs and alcohol peaks as kids grow up into being teens. During this transition period, parents‘ confidence in their ability to influence their teen’s decisions about drugs and alcohol begins to dwindle.

PATS 2007 – Key Findings:
As their kids become teenagers, parents frequently feel overwhelmed and insecure discussing the risks of drug and alcohol abuse.

  • The number of parents who report they need more tools and information to help their kids deal with drugs and alcohol jumps 46 percent between 4th-5th grade (elementary school) and 6th-8th grade (middle school).  (35 percent of 4th-5th grade parents report they need more information, versus 51 percent of 6th-8th grade parents).
  • The survey found that46 percent of parents of 6th -8th graders are more likely to say that their kids are reluctant to talk to them about drugs and alcohol than are 33 percent of parents with children in 4th -5th grades.
  • Also, 37 percent of 6th-8th grade parents feel they have little influence over their child’s decision to use drugs, versus 26 percent of 4th-5th grade parents who feel the same way.

Parents often feel reluctant enforcing rules and limitations for their teens because they value having a strong friendship with their child.

  • Parent or Pal? 36 percent of parents with kids in grades 6th-8th agree “it is very important to me that my child consider me a friend” compared to 20 percent of parents with children in 4th-5th grades.
  • As their children get older, parents are more likely to report that “I would never go through my child’s things when he/she was not there” – 23 percent for 4th -5th grade parents versus 38 percent for parents with children in 6th -8th grades.

Parents of 6th -8th grade kids are more likely than parents of 4th -5th grade children to agree that:

  • I have a hard time saying “no” to my child when he/she wants to do something or go somewhere I have doubts about (37 percent versus 18 percent).
  • It’s hard to tell my child not to do something if all of his/her friends’ parents allow them to do it or if other parents approve (40 percent versus 19 percent).