Defining Alcohol-Specific Rules Among Parents of Older Adolescents: Moving Beyond No Tolerance

Parental beliefs and rules regarding their teen's use of alcohol influence teen decisions regarding alcohol use. However, measurement of parental rules regarding adolescent alcohol use has not been thoroughly studied. This study used qualitative interviews with 174 parents of older teens from 100 families. From open-ended questions, themes emerged that describe explicit rules tied to circumscribed use, no tolerance, and "call me." There was some inconsistency in explicit rules with and between parents. Responses also generated themes relating to implicit rules such as expectations and preferences. Parents described their methods of communicating their position via conversational methods, role modeling their own behavior, teaching socially appropriate use of alcohol by offering their teen alcohol, and monitoring their teens' social activities. Findings indicate that alcohol rules are not adequately captured by current assessment measures.