Purdue University, 1202 West State St., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Prev Sci. 2020 May;21(4):568-579. doi: 10.1007/s11121-020-01094-7.
Parental knowledge about adolescents' whereabouts and activities remains one of the strongest predictors of reduced adolescent substance use. A recent study found that across middle childhood and adolescence, parental knowledge is characterized by fluctuations on a year-to-year basis, termed lability, even more-so than by linear trends, and that lability too is a predictor of adolescent substance use (Lippold et al., Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016). The present study replicates Lippold et al. (Dev. Psychol. 17, 274-283, 2016) by quantifying developmental change and lability in parental knowledge across adolescence and examining associations with drinking, smoking, and other drug use later in adolescence, and extends the study by examining the sources of knowledge: child disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control, separately. Using a community-based sample of 1023 youth in the Northeastern region of the USA, all three sources of knowledge were characterized by developmental change and lability. In general, higher levels and steeper developmental declines in knowledge were associated with substance use outcomes. Findings for child disclosure replicated the prior findings: increased lability of child disclosure predicted substance use. Unexpectedly, decreased lability of parental solicitation and control was associated with worse substance use outcomes. Findings suggest different mechanisms by which lability in child- and parent-driven cultivation of knowledge is associated with substance use. If replicated in studies that address causality, these mechanisms could be leveraged for prevention/intervention efforts. For example, increasing the consistency of child disclosure may help prevent substance use, but teaching parents to be more responsive to time-specific challenges with adolescents may be more effective than increasing the consistency of parents' knowledge-building parenting behaviors.
父母对青少年行踪和活动的了解仍然是减少青少年物质使用的最强预测因素之一。最近的一项研究发现，在整个童年和青春期，父母的知识以逐年波动为特征，称为不稳定性，甚至比线性趋势更为明显，而且不稳定性也是青少年物质使用的预测因素（Lippold 等人，发展心理学，17，274-283，2016）。本研究通过量化青少年时期父母知识的发展变化和不稳定性，并研究其与青春期后期饮酒、吸烟和其他药物使用的关联，复制了 Lippold 等人的研究（发展心理学，17，274-283，2016），并通过分别检查知识的来源：儿童披露、父母询问和父母控制，扩展了研究。使用美国东北部的一个基于社区的 1023 名青少年样本，知识的所有三个来源都具有发展变化和不稳定性。一般来说，知识水平较高且呈陡峭下降趋势与物质使用结果相关。儿童披露的发现复制了先前的发现：儿童披露的不稳定性增加预测物质使用。出乎意料的是，父母询问和控制的不稳定性下降与更糟糕的物质使用结果有关。研究结果表明，儿童和父母驱动的知识培养的不稳定性与物质使用相关的机制不同。如果在解决因果关系的研究中得到复制，这些机制可以用于预防/干预工作。例如，增加儿童披露的一致性可能有助于预防物质使用，但教父母更积极地应对青少年特定时间的挑战可能比增加父母建立知识的育儿行为的一致性更有效。
