AUTHOR=Libuy Nicolás , Guajardo Viviana , Ibáñez Carlos , Araneda Ana María , Contreras Lorena , Donoso Paula , Gaete Jorge , Mundt Adrian P. TITLE=Parental practices and their association with alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents in Chile JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1209584 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1209584 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=Background

Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use are common in Chile. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between perceived parenting practices and alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents in a Latin American context.

Methods

We adapted and implemented a substance use prevention strategy in Chile, which included surveys of tenth-grade students from six municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Greater Santiago. We assessed the reliability and factorial structure of the parenting scale with 16 items, which formed part of the survey. We dichotomized parenting scores into high (above the median) and low. The association of parenting practices with alcohol and cannabis use in adolescents was assessed using multivariate multilevel regression models.

Results

A total of 7,538 tenth-grade students from 118 schools were included in the study. The 16-item scale of parenting practices showed good internal consistency (Omega total = 0.84), and three factors representing Relationship between parents and adolescents, Norms and monitoring, and Parents knowing their children’s friends and the parents of their children’s friends. High total scores of parenting were associated with lower odds of lifetime alcohol use (OR 0.57; 95% CI: 0.49–0.65), past-month alcohol use (OR 0.63; 95% CI: 0.57–0.70), lifetime drunkenness (OR 0.64; 95% CI: 0.58–0.72), and lifetime cannabis use (OR 0.54; 95% CI: 0.47–0.61). Above median scores on each parenting subscale were associated with significantly lower odds of substance use. The strongest associations were observed for the subscale Norms and monitoring. Interactions between parenting and gender showed a significantly stronger effect of parenting practices on alcohol and cannabis use among girls.

Conclusion

Different types of parenting practices were associated with a lower prevalence of adolescent alcohol and cannabis use. Improving parenting practices has the potential to prevent adolescent substance use in Chile, especially among girls.