Parents concerns with drug abuse

Research suggests that rates of substance use among youths are lower among those whose parents disapprove of substance use than among those whose parents do not disapprove. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) asks youths aged 12 to 17 to report how they thought their parents would feel about their trying marijuana/hashish once or twice, having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day, or smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day.2 The survey also asked about use of marijuana/hashish, alcohol, and cigarettes during the month before the survey.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies. (2002, AugustÚ28). NHSDA Report: Parental Disapproval of Youths' Substance Use (NHSDA Series: H-13 ed.) Ú(NCADI Publication No. PHD856, DHHS Publication No. SMA 01-3549)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Statistics:
The percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 indicating that their parents would strongly disapprove of their smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day increased from 87.8 percent in 2000 to 88.9 percent in 2001. The percentage of youths who felt that their parents would strongly disapprove if they had one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day increased from 87.9 percent in 2000 to 88.9 percent in 2001. The percentage reporting strong parental disapproval about trying marijuana or hashish once or twice remained consistent from 2000 to 2001 at 89.5 percent.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, September). Results from the 2005 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-17 ed.) Ú(BKD461, SMA 02-3758)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.