‘Mama Don’t Preach’: Young Adults’ Perceptions of Maternal Messages about Underage Drinking

ABSTRACT

College students commonly report that their parents provide advice about how to drink safely; however, there is very little research exploring the content of parent-child harm-reduction conversations. The present study explores the types of advice mothers provide underage college students about drinking. A random sample of college students (ages 18 to 20) completed an online survey about their alcohol use and conversations they had with their mother about alcohol. Students’ perceptions of mother-child harm-reduction conversations include the themes of: specific protective behavioral strategies, ambiguous behavioral advice, decision making advice, value-based advice, warning-based advice, and advice conveying approval. Discussion of specific protective behavioral strategies was most common for female students and students who reported binge drinking. Mothers did not typically address how to implement harm-reduction strategies effectively. The findings have implications for the assessment of harm-reduction communication between parents and emerging adult children.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute On Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R34AA026032. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.