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Parenting today means guiding children through a maze of pro-pot propaganda and surface-level harm reduction messages, all while facing real risks linked to family history. The parental influence on addiction, substance use, and health choices has never been more crucial. We will explore how parents can empower their children against addiction, drawing on research, real-world stats, and expert advice.
Let’s start with some good news and understand that children, their child, your child, our children have a number of Human Rights enshrined in United Nations Conventions, and one of those Conventions is Article 33 of the Rights of the Child, and one every parent/guardian should know, hold dear and wield, when it comes to protecting their children.
As you continue through this article keep this in the forefront of your thinking in how this can help you, your family and community be better at delaying or more importantly, denying uptake of potential, health and well-being destroying substances.
Why Parental Influence on Addiction Matters
You might hear everywhere that “all teens experiment with alcohol or drugs”. But the data tells a different story. According to the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, parental beliefs and conversations directly impact young people’s substance choices—even into college. Teens who understand their parents have a zero-tolerance policy are less likely to drink, both in high school and beyond.
Dr Maria Rahmandar, medical director at Lurie Children’s Hospital, puts it clearly:
“Youth are less likely to use alcohol and other substances when their parents have the expectation that they won’t and communicate this expectation to their children.”
The Dalgarno Institute emphasizes that the belief that drug use is wrong is the most significant protective factor against substance use. Research from the University of Illinois shows that every ‘unit’ increase in this belief raises the likelihood of abstinence by 39% for 8th graders, 50% for 10th graders, and 53% for 12th graders.
Declining Rates Challenge Old Myths
There’s a stubborn myth that underage drinking is universal. Here’s the truth:
- 2021: 54.1% of high school seniors had ever used alcohol; only 25.8% had done so in the last 30 days.
- 1978: A huge 93.1% of seniors reported ever drinking; 72.1% had drunk alcohol in the past month.
This decline aligns with the Dalgarno Institute’s advocacy for evidence-based prevention strategies that delay or deny the uptake of alcohol and drugs. Effective drug education in schools, for example, has been shown to delay drug uptake by two years, providing a critical window for intervention.
The Role of Genetics and Family History
While parental guidance matters, genetics, or better stated ‘epigenetics’ play a role too. Dr Marc Schuckit (University of San Diego) reports genetics factors can add up to 60% of a person’s risk for developing alcohol use disorder. However, it’s vital to note that there is no single “alcoholism or drug addiction gene”. It is what we like to refer to as a ‘recipe’.
The nature and nurture debate around development was settled well over a decade ago. It is not nature or nurture alone that determine developmental outcomes, but rather a unique mix – one that the Dalgarno Institute calls the R.E.C.I.P.E.
The Epigenome is the ‘coating’, if you like, on the DNA, it is not a ‘gene’ per se, but there is a vast amount of data in this space that can influence how genes express themselves. This is where the above RECIPE can influence the epigenome as much as the epigenome has capacity to influence the recipe. In short, ‘pre-dispositions’ can be created, and can be amended, but it is all found in the mix of the above factors. (see Humpty Dumpty Dilemma Resiliency Project)
Framing it Honestly, Authentically, but not Romantically!
Honesty, not secrecy, is key. Jessica Lahey, author of The Addiction Inoculation, shared with her kids her own battles with alcohol:
“I told them I would not be drinking alcohol anymore because I can’t control it, and in order to be the best mom I could be for them, I had to stop.”
Children sense when things are hidden or “off”. Explaining the family history in an age-appropriate way helps them make sense of their world. Michael Roeske, psychologist and director at Newport Healthcare, supports this approach. “If you’re not honest,” he says, “kids fill in the gaps themselves, often with worse explanations than reality. Honesty gives them a framework for understanding addiction as a health issue.”
Of course, as mentioned previously, this bio-behavioural disorder is about avoiding – preventing this non-communicable dis-ease through behavioural decisions and acts that stop or revert from the behaviours causing the health harms. This must never be lost in the conversation around this issue. Avoiding stigmatising people is important, but calling bad decisions out in view or pointing and empowering toward best practice is a key part of preventative health.
To state the obvious, prevention is far more effective than cure. By focusing on delaying or denying substance use, families can significantly reduce the risk of addiction, even in the presence of genetic predispositions.
Parental Influence on Addiction Prevention Starts Early
Substance use disorder rarely appears out of nowhere in adulthood. Most people with these issues start as teens. The research is unanimous:
- The longer a child delays their first drink or experiment, the lower their chance of developing addiction.
- Dr Rahmandar highlights, “The longer you can delay, the lower your risk.”
- The Dalgarno Institute also advocates for a unified, uncompromised message in drug education: ‘Don’t uptake or quit.’
This means the small everyday choices and conversations you have matter hugely. Waiting until college to talk about substance use is already too late.
Environmental and Lifestyle Risk Factors
RiskThere are far more important risk factors to focus on than a default referral to ‘genetics’ What has been labeled as Adverse Childhood Experiences is a very significant factor in potential substance use engagement.
If you look closely at the above categories you can see how substance use is not only a key ACE in it’s own right, but can influence every other ACE in the spectrum. That is how pervasive the harms of substance use are
Lahey suggests picturing risk and protection as a balance scale:
- Risk factors: Family history, trauma, untreated mental illness, substance-friendly environments.
- Protective factors: Mental health support, strong family connections, meaningful hobbies, supportive schools.
For higher-risk families, you need extra “weights” on the protective side. The more risk, the more robust your protections should be. The community-wide efforts are important, such as Iceland’s successful anti-drug strategy, which relies on clear, consistent messaging and robust protective factors to reduce youth drug use.
The Conversation With the Kids – What May That Look Like?
Start Open Conversations Early
The best prevention starts with honest, ongoing conversation. Begin before your child faces peer pressure. Keep your tone calm, factual, and supportive.
- Ask what they’ve heard at school or online about drugs and alcohol.
- Share family history in simple, age-appropriate terms.
- Make clear your expectations, with warmth not threat.
Example Script
“We have people in our family who’ve struggled with alcohol. That means we all have to be really careful, because our bodies might respond differently. If you’re curious or worried, you can always ask me about it.”
Don’t Gloss Over Reality
Don’t hide struggles or make up stories about absent relatives or “illness”. Kids notice tension, whispered conversations, or absent family members. Explaining substance use disorders as a bio-behavioural health condition can help not only with avoiding stigma but also completely deglamorise and strip bare the real cost and harms of substance use.
Empowering Choices and Building Life Skills
Dr Rahmandar notes, “You cannot develop a substance use disorder unless you are exposed to substances in the first place.” Choice matters. Kids with higher genetic risk can sometimes escape the cycle by simply never starting, or starting much later than peers. Again, we cannot overemphasise the need for all of the community to be on the same page when it comes to substance use. Actors in the community who continue to demand their ‘liberty’ to use psychotropic toxins that bring harm not only to themselves, but on both passive and active levels, negatively impact communities, families and children, must be called out.
Equip Kids With Skills
- Refusal Skills: Practise saying “no” using real-world examples and role-play. A person’s NO is the most powerful protective weapon in their tool kit of resilience – teach them how to use it, and help them not give it up when they are in toxic coercive or seductive environments.
- Exit Strategies: Pre-plan texts or code words they can use if they need to leave an uncomfortable situation.
- Safe Environments: Monitor social circles. It’s important to know who your kids friends are, but also to know about their family. You become the instigator of social events and make your home ‘the safe space’. Of course, try to avoid open suspicion of people, be discerning, ask careful questions and always balance this with trust.
- Healthy Activities: Sports, arts, volunteering, and meaningful hobbies absorb time and fill key social and emotional needs.
Your Role as a Parent Never Ends
Some parents worry that if their child experiments or struggles with substance use, that they’ve “failed”. That’s not true. Michael Roeske advises, “It is this ongoing effort that is most important.” Recovery and resilience are built with many small pieces, not single big interventions.
Lahey compares recovery to a 100-piece puzzle. Piece 100 won’t fall into place unless pieces two, 17, 72, and 99 are all there. Your role is to keep putting down puzzle pieces, even if you can’t see the end result. The point is that it’s the consistent and uncompromising building of best practice prevention and resilience capacities into your child’s environment that will help equip them to come up and out of that dysfunctional arena.
Framing Addiction Like Any Other Health Issue
Parents often talk to kids about family risks for diabetes or heart disease. Substance use disorder is no different. “If they know they are predisposed to alcohol use disorder, that’s another piece of essential information they need to make informed decisions,” says Lahey.
Real-World Prevention Works
Data from schools and communities around the world show early prevention works, especially when parents, schools, and communities send unified, evidence-based messages. Dalgarno Institute argues for a prevention-first approach, criticising strategies that seem to normalise or downplay drug risks (like pill testing at festivals or drug consumption rooms).
“Empowering and equipping the emerging generation to exercise the best choice of ‘NO’ should be the strongest incentive in all messaging.” – Shane Varcoe, Executive Director, Dalgarno Institute
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission puts it bluntly:
“The risk and harm posed by illicit drugs to the Australian community is ever-growing, which underscores the need for law enforcement and health agencies to work collaboratively to combat both the supply and demand for illicit drugs.”
Why Prevention Works
- No safe level for young brains: Science shows there is no safe level of drug use for developing brains (up to 25–32 years old).
- Protective beliefs: University of Illinois research proved that every “unit” increase in the belief that drug use is wrong raises the chance of abstinence by:
o 39% (8th graders)
o 50% (10th graders)
o 53% (12th graders)
- Economic impact: Every $1 spent on prevention saves $18 in future community costs.
The Collaborative Community Contagion: Parents, Schools, and Community Working Together
Schools cannot do this work alone. The Icelandic model of drug prevention, which saw a steep drop in youth drug use, relies on community-wide effort and clear, consistent messaging. One message – One focus – One Voice in all key community demographics. Both good and bad contagions work the same. More is ‘caught’ than taught – Kids are watching what is being not just spoken, but more importantly, what is being modelled. If the ‘talk’ of the community is stay away, but the ‘walk’ of the community is ‘do what you like when you’re 18’, then the ‘message’ being delivered creates cognitive dissonance in the child and they can all too often go the path of least resistance.
The above, right here, is the single biggest problem.
If the ‘grown ups’ want to engage with substance irresponsibly and use their ‘adult’ status to do so, then the message to the emerging adult – the child – is, “I can ‘act like an adult now’ by using this ‘grown up’ play thing”. The personal desire of the adult then trumps the child’s well-being. This egocentricity is a tough one to combat on a societal level, but it can be done in micro-environments, like your family, friends, and even community settings.
One data set reveals (and disappointingly that only 44% of Australian students aged 12–17 received more than one lesson on AOD last year. This needs to and can change with AOD (Alcohol & Other Drug) Education being couched in health and human development studies with sound sociological and anthropological academic underpinnings that build resilience.
For example the Dalgarno Institute and its coalition of educators has not only incursions but curriculum that can service this need for every year level from grade 5 in primary school up to the end of high school. Along with sporting club, community and family education sessions, an immersion protocol can be engaged to help develop a resilient student who has no need or desire to engage in substance use.
This can all help parents and families add to their resilience building toolkit and any schooling gaps can be filled by families who make substance education part of everyday life.
Practical Steps to Leverage Parental Influence on Addiction
- Open Communication: Start early, keep it honest and ongoing.
- Encourage Healthy Activities: Support sports, arts, volunteering.
- Set Firm Family Rules: Be clear about your expectations on substance use.
- Teach Refusal & Exit Skills: Prepare kids for real-life scenarios.
- Consistently Enforce Consequences: Be fair, predictable, and calm.
- Stay Connected: Stay interested in your child’s friends and routines.
- Prioritise Sleep: Poor sleep increases risky choices.
- Model Behavior: Demonstrate healthy habits and transparent communication about family risks.
- Spot Early Warnings: Address changes in mood or activity promptly.
Facing Substance Normalisation with Confidence
The era of pro-cannabis messaging and normalised substance use can feel overwhelming for parents. However, evidence shows that parental influence on addiction has a significant and measurable impact. By staying present, honest, and proactive, you can help protect your child—even if there’s a family history of addiction.
Prevention isn’t just possible; it’s highly effective.
The Dalgarno Institute highlights the importance of prevention-first approaches that focus on reducing demand and prioritising primary prevention. They caution against strategies that may unintentionally normalise or downplay the risks of drug use, such as pill testing at festivals, drug consumption sites that do not lead to recovery and messaging that suggests drug use is ‘manageable’ and that harms can be dealt with.
Strengthening your family’s protective factors and building resilience through community prevention programmes and professional advice can provide a strong foundation for a substance-free future. Consistent parental involvement remains the most powerful tool in safeguarding your child.
The Dalgarno Institute (WRD News)
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#preventdontpromote #druguse #DemandReduction
