Parenting behaviors and adolescents’ alcohol use: The mediating role of youth perceptions of the laws

Alcohol use can lead to deleterious consequences on health and social development during adolescence. Parental monitoring and attitudes towards alcohol stand out as important correlates of youth substance use. This study aimed to better understand this association by examining adolescents’ knowledge of the laws and subjective perception of the acceptability of illegal situations as potential mediators of the associations between parenting and alcohol use. The sample includes 1154 Belgian adolescents (705 girls; M age = 16.34 years; 54.9% French; 45.1% Flemish) who filled out questionnaires on their parents’ knowledge of their out-of-home activities, parental attitudes towards their drinking behaviour, their alcohol use, and two situational vignettes assessing knowledge and perception of the law. The structural equation model showed adequate fit, χ2 (6) = 21.61, p < .05, CFI = 0.98, TLI =0.96, RMSEA = .05, SRMR=.02. Higher parental monitoring was associated with lower perceived acceptability of illegal situations. In turn, these perceptions were related to lower alcohol use, c’= –.08, p = .001. Higher perceived acceptability of illegal situations mediated the positive association between positive parental attitudes towards alcohol and youth alcohol use, c’ = .26, p < .001 . In contrast, knowledge of the laws was unrelated to adolescents’ alcohol use. These findings suggest that parents can either promote or prevent alcohol use through socialization processes, whereas improving youth’s understanding of the laws would be less efficient in preventing alcohol use.