Parenting styles and alcohol abuse among college freshmen

Alcoholism in the College Freshman

Diffusion of Responsibility

Alcoholism is and has always been a huge issue among college students. This is because it is a favorite pastime and it gives them a great way to spend their free time. There are, however, huge negative effects to alcoholism for the students which often go unnoticed. Looking at the statistics of alcoholism, nearly half of the freshmen who drink alcohol spend more time drinking than studying. This was the result of a survey of 30,000 freshmen in over 75 campuses. They spend approximately 10.2 hours every week drinking which is minimal compared to the 3.1 hours spent studying (Paiva, Bastos, & Ronzani, 2012). In another survey of 20,000 freshmen, it was found that 49.4% of them drink alcohol (Stephen J. Bahr, 2010). This topic has thus been chosen as a result of these astonishing numbers of students who drink alcohol and the huge amount of time that is wasted in drinking alcohol and not spent in other productive activities such as studying.

There is also the role that is played by peer pressure which is the most important cause of alcohol abuse. As a result of the freshmen seeing it as a 'cool' thing to do and as an important marker of their entry into college life, they take up alcohol abuse. None of them wants to seem like a social outcast by shunning drinking alcohol and thus the role played by peer pressure forms a huge part in the choice of freshmen to take alcohol.

Many studies have focused on how the different parenting styles affect the outcome of freshmen to become alcoholics. A good number of studies have found that there is a direct correlation between the parenting style and the outcome while the majority has found that the parenting style does not influence the outcome of the students. However, when looking at drinking at the freshman level, and especially with the heavy drinking involved, the parenting style does play a huge role in steering the students away from alcohol. By looking at how the different parenting styles affect the outcome of the children, measures can be devised to help deter alcoholism and thus mitigate the negative effects that the students would accrue from drinking alcohol.

Alcoholism in relation to parenting styles

The relationship between the parents and the children plays a huge role in influencing their drinking habits especially from the ages of 12-19 years which is the time when many of the college freshmen begin drinking. The level of accountability of the parents plays a huge role in influencing the drinking habit of the students. In a study that was conducted by Brigham Young University, it was found that when the youth feel their parents are directly accountable for them and that they receive warmth from their parents, they become least prone to drinking. For parents who are permissive or indulgent in the lives of their children, they triple the risk of their children being binge drinkers are a result of their low accountability but high warmth. Strict or authoritarian parents also double the risk of their children becoming alcoholics as a result of being high on accountability but low on warmth (Changalwa, Ndurumo, Barasa, & Poipoi, 2012).

Parents who teach their children in the religious ways also greatly reduce the outcome of the children as alcoholics since they are high on accountability and warmth (Jacob & Johnson, 1997). Neglectful or uninvolved parents are low on accountability and warmth which also increases the risk of their children becoming alcoholics. The authoritative parenting style which is both demanding and responsive also greatly reduces the chances of children becoming alcoholics as a result of it being a balanced style of parenting whereby the parent understand the feelings of the child and helps the child to regulate their feelings (Changalwa et al., 2012).

However, an important thing to note is that the parents and their parenting style do not influence whether the children try alcohol. What they influence is the outcome of the children as binge drinkers or alcoholics. The important issue is that the parents need to understand that they are not controlling the behavior of their children rather they need to combine warmth, accountability and love in order to make a balanced parenting style that is able to effectively prevent them from becoming alcoholics (Kusmierski, Nichols, & McDonnell).

Authoritative parents monitor their kids closely and they give a lot of support and warmth to their children. They are essentially very hands-on parents and loving which creates an environment that is conducive for the children to make the right decision and to be able to avoid alcoholism at all costs. For the authoritarian parents, they are strict but not necessarily warm. This makes the children have a sense of rebellion against the parents which may lead them to fall to peer pressure and become binge drinkers. For the indulgent parenting style, the parent is loving but is unlikely to punish the child for any wrong doing. This makes the child feel that even though they may do something wrong, there is no repercussion and thus may lead them to become binge drinkers. The last style which is the neglectful style is embodied by lack of warmth and accountability from the parents which may make the child become a binge drinker in order to compensate for the lack of the feeling of warmth and love from the parents (Hanson, Venturelli, & Fleckenstein, 2011).

The academy of pediatrics as well as other children's health organizations have found that children who have authoritative parents become independent, successful in social circles and have respect for authority which is part of what leads them astray from binge drinking. The academy has also emphasized on the importance of early drug