Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: In the present study, I use data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (N=1,038) to examine the ways in which mothers teach their children delinquent behaviors, specifically alcohol use, just as they teach their children positive, prosocial behaviors.Drawing on Sutherland's social learning theory and Elder's "linked lives," I examine the effect of mother's lifetime drinking on their child's current drinking and alcohol-related problems.I address three main questions.First, are maternal levels of lifelong drinking, even drinking before the birth of their child, associated with their children having higher levels of alcohol use?Second, is the relationship between mother's alcohol use and their child's alcohol use mediated by her permissive attitudes?Third, does the gender of the child influence the relationship between a mother's and child's alcohol use?This research adds to the current social learning literature by considering parents as a potential source of negative, anti-social behaviors.In particular, few prior studies examine the transmission of mother's anti-social behavior to their children.The present study also builds on previous research by taking a life-course perspective on parents' drinking by examining the impact of long-term habits of alcohol consumption on their children's behavior.The results suggest that there are similarities between mother's drinking and adolescent's drinking for both genders.Mothers who drank irresponsibly as a teen and currently drink irresponsibly have sons and daughters with the highest rates of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.Mothers who never drank irresponsibly nearly always have children with the lowest rates of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.While there are similarities between mothers' and children's drinking behaviors, I find that the mechanism by which this takes place differs by gender.Girls are influenced by their mother's permissiveness, iii but a similar relationship does not appear to exist for boys.vi LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES Figure/Table ………………………………………………………………...………………Page Descriptive Statistics for Adolescent Boys by Parent's Lifetime Drinking......................41 Descriptive Statistics for Adolescent Girls by Parent's Lifetime Drinking……………...42 Logistic Regression Models for Male Adolescent Alcohol Use (N=493)…………….…43Logistic Regression Models for Female Adolescent Alcohol Use (N=545)………….…44Logistic Regression Models for Male Adolescent Alcohol-Related Problems (N=493) ………………………………………………………………...………………….45Logistic Regression Models for Female Adolescent Alcohol-Related Problems (N=545)…………………………………………………………………………………..46
Author: Andrea R. Garber
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2737742499