2015-10-06
1
Engaging parents in alcohol and drug education, October 6 Birmingham
Effekt: A parent’s perspective on
alcohol education
Dr. Nikolaus Koutakis, University of Örebro, SWEDEN
Being drunk during the past 30 days by gender. 2011.
(2011, ESPAD Report)
2015-10-06
2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Per
cen
tag
e o
f su
bje
cts
Boys
Girls
Percentage of youth (10-18) been drunk at least once the last semester.
Age
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Per
cen
tage
Boys
Girls
Percentage of subjects at different ages been drunk more than 10 times the last semester.
Age
2015-10-06
3
OK, adolescents get drunk, so what?Alcohol related consequences age 15 & 17
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
15 17 15 17 15 17 15 17 15 17 15 17 15 17
Amount of youth that believes that their parents worry about their children's alcohol consumption in relation to their parents’ report about their worries.
%
age0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
13 14 15 16
Youth self report
Parent report
2015-10-06
4
The percentage of youth who said they have been drunk and percentage of parents who had found their youth drunk
0
20
40
60
80
100
13 14 15 16
Youth
Parents
%
(r= .55, p < .001)
Parents get increasing experiences of seeing their child drunk but parent worries are not affected by their experiences of seeing the child drunk.
%
Childs age0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
13 14 15 16
Parent caught the child drunk
Parent worries
2015-10-06
5
Cognitive dissonance theory:When cognitions are inconsistent�DistressRemedy: Change cognition or behavior
What does the theory have to do with underage drinking ?
Parents usually have a restrictive approach to underage drinking, especially when children are younger.
2015-10-06
6
The percentage of parents having lenient stance towards underage drinking over time (longitudinal data)
0
20
40
60
80
100
13 14 15 16
%
What happens if parents encounter their children drunk?
Longitudinal data over three years: Concentrating on the majority of parents to 13 year olds that have restrictive attitudes towards underage drinking.
Longitudinal data over three years: Concentrating on the majority of parents to 13 year olds that have restrictive attitudes towards underage drinking.
2015-10-06
7
Percentage of parents who become more lenient over time
have seen the child drunk at the age of 15?
%
”It is natural for children in your son's or daughter's age to becurious to try alcohol. We trust our son / daughter to drink responsibly.”
p < 0.001T2
N0
Yes
25
7
0
10
20
30
• A relatively small group of parents have encountered their early teens drunk, those youth are quickly increasing their frequency of drunkenness.
• This phenomenon can be explained in terms of parental cognitive dissonance.
• This group can be targeted in a universal program.
• EFFEKT is communicating clear messages about this to a universal group of parents.
2015-10-06
8
Parent’s attitudes towards 16-year olds alcohol drinking in relation to the children’s actual drinking.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Never > 10 times
Restrictive
Permissive
Parent’s attitude towards underage
drunkenness
Been drunk latest semester
%
Longitudinal studies on Parent Attitudes - Youth Drinking Behaviors
Abar C, Turrisi R. (2008). How important are parents during the college years? A longitudinal perspective of indirect influences parents yield on their college teens’ alcohol use. Addict Behav, 33: 1360–68
Turrisi R, Wiersma KA, Hughes KK. (2000). Binge-drinking related consequences in college students: Role of drinking beliefs and mother-teen communications. Psychol Addict Behav, 14: 342–55.
Walls TA, Fairlie AM, Wood MD. (2009). Parents do matter: a longitudinal two-part mixed model of early college alcohol participation and intensity. J Stud Alcohol Drugs, 70: 908–18.
Wood MD, Read JP, Mitchell RE, Brand NH. (2004). Do parents still matter? Parent and peer influences on alcohol involvement among recent high school graduates. Psychol Addict Behav, 18: 19–30.
2015-10-06
9
Let’s take an adolescent perspective
Certainly
not
Certainly
true
Prudential issues
To drink alcohol 19.4 55.8
To smoke or use dry tobacco 19.5 66
To go to a party where they drink
alcohol
21 45.6
To use hash or other drugs 19 77.6
How I treat my friends (about
teasing or insulting)
21.1 41.1
To spread rumors or say
something nasty
22.7 49.7
To keep my promises to others 18 46
About talking back to a teacher 20.2 47.5
About my language (e.g. cursing) 23 34.9
Average prudential issues 20.4 51.6
Personal issues
What web-pages I'm aloud to
browse
26.2 30.9
What movies or music I'm aloud
to listen to
48.4 16.2
That they decides what peers
I'm aloud to hang out with
35.4 16.8
What I do on my free time 34.1 16.6
How I use my money 36 15.7
What girls or boys I like or fall in
love with
56.3 12.3
Average personal issues 23.4 18.1
Certainly
not
Certainly
true
I think it´s OK if my parents set limits for me concerning:
Percentage of youths who accept or do not accept parents limit setting for different types of prudential and personal issues
2015-10-06
10
EFFEKT rests on the principle that parents have an important role in regulating their youth
Concept: Target: important dynamic conditions that are realistic to alter.
What if we try to maintain parents restrictive attitudes toward underage drinking;
Will this have an impact on their children's alcohol drinking?
EFFEKTTM
• Target: Parents to 13-15 year olds.• Administration: Ordinary parent-teacher conferences /
parent meetings.• Dose: 15-20 minutes biannually.• Active ingredient: Facts and arguments delivered in an
interactive format.• Administer in any community making use of existing
resources: without any cost other than training.
2015-10-06
11
Implementation
Ordinary staff e.g. teacher, school counselor, school nurse.
Content on ordinary parent-teacher conferences (20 min)
• Information on underage drinking:• Parent values matter• About letting the child drink
• Consensus agreement.• Having clear and restrictive
house rules.
• Concluding letter to al
2015-10-06
12
First stage: Open parents’ eyes
• Initially, focus on making parents aware of the problems with underage drinking, even to the extent that negative emotions are evoked.
• Purpose: to make parents more open to suggestions for change.
15 av 30 15-åringar. 7 % fler pojkar än flickor.
Number of 15 year-olds who have been drunk at least once during the past year
2015-10-06
13
Number of 15 year-olds who have been drunk more than 4 times during
the past term
Second stage: Change parents’ ways of thinking about underage drinking
• Tear down parental misconceptions about youth drinking, such that most youths drink and it is not possible to change the situation.
• Parents should become aware that their attitudes and behavior matters.
Powerlessness � Empowerment
2015-10-06
14
Third stage: Implement specific techniques
Parents are taught clear and simple rules about how to prevent and handle their adolescent’s drinking behavior.
•What do you and your friends think about alcohol?
•Do you know why there is an age limit for buying alcohol?
•What do you do when you are offered a drink?
2015-10-06
15
Intervention results
Koutakis, Stattin & Kerr (2008)
Tested and confirmed paths using latent growt curvemodels (Koutakis & Ozdemir, 2010)
3,4
3,5
3,6
3,7
3,8
3,9
4
grade 7 grade 8 grade 9
Pare
nts
' re
str
icti
ve a
ttit
ud
es
Mean levels for parent reported restrictive attitudes toward underage drinking at grades 7, 8 and 9 for parents in the intervention- and control groups.
2015-10-06
16
0
0,1
0,2
0,3
0,4
0,5
0,6
0,7
0,8
0,9
1
grade 7 grade 8 grade 9
Me
an
dru
nk
en
ne
ss
control experimental
Repeated measures analysis of variance displaying self reported drunkenness for youths in the intervention and control condition at grades 7, 8 and 9.
1,1
1,15
1,2
1,25
1,3
1,35
grade 7 grade 8 grade 9
Me
an
de
lin
qu
en
cy
Repeated measures analysis of variance displaying self reported delinquency for youths in the intervention and control condition at grades 7, 8 and 9.
2015-10-06
17
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
1,2
1,4
1,6
1,8
2
grade 7 grade 8 grade 9
Me
an
dru
nk
en
ne
ss
control experimental
Repeated measures analysis of variance for a sub sample of early starters in drunkenness and delinquency displaying self reported drunkenness for youths in the intervention and control condition at grades 7, 8 and 9.
1,4136
1,3
1,35
1,4
1,45
1,5
1,55
1,6
1,65
1,7
1,75
grade 7 grade 8 grade 9
Mean
delin
qu
en
cy
Repeated measures analysis of variance for a sub sample of early starters in drunkenness and delinquency displaying self reported delinquency for youths in the intervention and control condition at grades 7, 8 and 9.
2015-10-06
18
In addition
• More parents attend parent meetings
• More Communication: parent � school; school �parent.
Over all ES Early starters ESRepeated measures, control for pre test
Post test control for pre est
Repeated measures, control for pre test
Post test, control for pre test
Drunkenness .48 .35 .72 .52Antisocial behavior
.42 .38 .46 .32
Effect Size
Number needed to treat for one to benefit =7.7 / 7.1
2015-10-06
19
Child disclosure is related to different conditions:
Child’s personality, temperament
Parental responce
- sarkasm-penalicing-Mocking the child, make fun-Use the info. against the child -Over and over bring up issues that has been solicited in confidence
Stable traits
Tystar barnendiscourages
the child
The emotional climate encourages the child to disclose
Parental warmth
-youth are willing to disclose about their whereabouts away from home if there is
warmth in the parent – youth relations
2015-10-06
20
What do I mean with warmth?
�Praising the child unconditionally
�Show with words and gestures that they love their
youth
�More often focus on positive things in youth’s
behaviors
�Show how proud they are with their youth
�Do small things that make the child feel special
Evidence Teachers
experience
Parent and youth
demand
Evidence baced
practice
EFFEKTEFFEKTEFFEKTEFFEKT---- Evidence Evidence Evidence Evidence based?based?based?based?
Sackett, D. L., et al,. (1996). Evidence-based medicine: What it is and what it isn't. British Medical Journal, 312 , 13, 71-72.
Best avaliable
knowledge from
reliable research.
Teachers
expertice and
advice of what is
possible to
acieve.
Parent and youth
responce and
demand.
Effectively
preventing alcohol,
tobacco or illegal
substance use in a
way that suits
schools.
2015-10-06
21
Conclusions
• Any effective prevention program must focus on important conditions that are realistic to alter.
• In order to be able to mobilize parents, it is crucial to have them motivated.
• Parent attitudes and parenting practices concerning underage drinking matter.
• The EFFEKT approach is effective in maintaining parents restrictiveness and thereby decrease underage drunkenness.
Training: Prerequisite to
implement EFFEKT• Introduction to Prevention Science
• Theoretical and empirical background of EFFEKT
• The logic of the program
• Current knowledge about parenting research –preventive implications
• Program theory
• Importance of program fidelity
• Prerequisites for a sustainable implementation
• How to communicate professionally
• How to answer the most common (critical) questions from parents.
2015-10-06
22
For discussion
• If you had the chance to gather al or most parents to the pupils in your school, what would you like to do with them?
• What would it take to have them to come to such a gathering?
INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTCOMES
Trained Teachers
(2d).
Access to parent-
teacher
conferences.
Less underage
drunkenness,
and antisocial
behaviors.
More parents
attending
parent-teacher
conferences.
Increased
communication
between
parents and
school & School-
parents
Logic Model for EFFEKT
Recurring
presentations at
ordinary parent –
teacher
conferences with
the purpose to
provide
arguments and
strategies for
parents’ to
uphold and
express clear and
restrictive
expectations on
underage
drinking
Parents’
restrictive
attitudes
maintained.
Letters to al
parents.
Consensus
agreements
among parents.
2015-10-06
23
less
more
Youth age13 1814 15 16 17
Normal trajectory
Intervention results
Parents having clear expectations
13 1814 15 16 17
less
more
Youth age
2015-10-06
24
UNIVERSITY OF ÖREBRO
SWEDEN
effekt.org
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
http://www.blueprintsprograms.com/factSheet.php?pid=
e973a64ce098778bb7327fe57d8a607be981cbd3
Crime Solutions.gov
http://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=
162
Institute for Fiscal Studies´s
http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6246
RAND Europé
www.rand.org/randeurope
Koutakis et al., 2008; Koutakis & Ozdemir, 2010; Bodin & Strandberg, 2011;
Koning et al., 2011; Ozdemir & Stattin, 2012; Ozdemir & Koutakis, 2015