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Youths’ Substance Use and Changes in Parental Knowledge-Related Behaviors During Middle School: A Person-Oriented Approach

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Abstract

Parental knowledge is a key protective factor for youths’ risky behavior. Little is known about how longitudinal combinations of knowledge-related behaviors are associated with youths’ substance use. This longitudinal study uses Latent Transition Analysis to identify latent patterns of parental knowledge-related behaviors occurring in mother-youth dyads during middle school and to investigate how changes in knowledge-related patterns are associated with youths’ substance use in Grade 6 and the initiation of substance use from Grade 6 to 8. Using a sample of 536 rural dyads (53 % female, 84 % White), we assessed mother and youths’ reports of parental knowledge, active parental monitoring efforts, youth disclosure, and parent-youth communication to identify six latent patterns of knowledge-related behaviors: High Monitors, Low Monitors, Communication-Focused, Supervision-Focused, Maternal Over-Estimators, and Youth Over-Estimators. Fifty percent or more of dyads in the High Monitors, Communication-Focused and Youth Over-Estimators were in the same status in both 6th and 8th grade: 98 % of Low Monitors in Grade 6 were also in this status in Grade 8. The initiation of alcohol, smoking, and marijuana was associated significantly with transitions between patterns of knowledge-related behaviors. The initiation of alcohol and smoking were associated with increased odds of transitions into the Low Monitors from the Communication-Focused, Supervision-Focused, and Maternal Over-Estimators. However, the initiation of substance use was associated with decreased odds of transitions from the High Monitors to the Low Monitors and with increased odds of transitions from High Monitors to Supervision-Focused. The discussion focuses on the value of using a person-oriented dyadic approach with multiple reporters to study changes in knowledge-related behaviors over the middle school period.

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Acknowledgments

Work on this paper was supported by research Grants DA013709, F31-DA028047, and P50 DA10075 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health.

Author Contributions

M.L. conceived of the study, analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript. M.G. participated in the design and conceptualization of the study, facilitated access to the data, and provided feedback on all drafts. L.C. participated in the design and conceptualization of the study, provided methodological guidance, and provided feedback on all drafts. All authors have read and approved the final draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, 325 Pittsboro St., CB#3550, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3550, USA

    Melissa A. Lippold

  2. The Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, 112 Henderson South Building, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Mark T. Greenberg & Linda M. Collins

  3. The Methodology Center, The Pennsylvania State University, 204 E. Calder Way, Suite 400, State College, PA, 16801, USA

    Linda M. Collins

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  1. Melissa A. Lippold
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  2. Mark T. Greenberg
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Correspondence to Melissa A. Lippold.

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Lippold, M.A., Greenberg, M.T. & Collins, L.M. Youths’ Substance Use and Changes in Parental Knowledge-Related Behaviors During Middle School: A Person-Oriented Approach. J Youth Adolescence 43, 729–744 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0010-x

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