Predictors of Alcohol Use Among Status-Offending Adolescents: Youth and Parent Perspectives

Abstract

Research exploring parent–child relationships suggests parents often have divergent perspectives from their adolescent children. Understanding youths' and parents' reports in predicting alcohol use is particularly important among detained youths who are at elevated risk for substance-related problems. This exploratory study queried youth entrants to a juvenile detention center (N = 150) and their parents (N = 89) on a host of individual and familial factors to determine risks associated with youths' drinking from youth and parent perspectives. Findings suggest that, in addition to assessing youths' self-reports at juvenile detention admission, parents' divergent views of their teens' alcohol use offer a valuable perspective.

Keywords:

• alcohol use
• parent/youth discrepancy
• risk for alcohol use
• status offender

Notes

**p ≤ .01.