Parents Unaware of Children’s Drug Habits

Most teenagers would never confide to their parents about what kind of substances they are using. Sometimes, parents can assume that as their little kids grow older, they are bound to try certain drugs and, of course, alcohol. A study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis tried to distinguish how accurate parents are when guessing how much their child is involved with drug and alcohol use.
The study involved 591 parent and child duos that were asked about the teen’s drug habits. Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana were the three most prevalent substances in adolescents at 54%, 44%, and 23% respectively. The parents were very naïve about their children doing drugs or drinking alcohol. They only reported use about 50% of the time for all three substances.
However, the older the child was, the more the parent was aware of these three substances being used by that child. This study shows that children, at a young age, are starting to delve into the experimental drug use, which can lead to substance abuse or dependency later on in life. Parents should try to become more involved in their child’s life outside of home and encourage them to stay away from drugs. If parents never teach their children about substance abuse, the teenagers can move from these three ‘soft’ drugs to harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.