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Parental Movie Restrictions And Youth Alcohol Use

Research has linked entertainment media with aggressive behavior, smoking, and sexual behavior. But less is known about the relationship between movies and alcohol use. This Dartmouth Medical School study looked at how parental restrictions on R-movie viewing influenced the risk of early-onset alcohol use. Participants were 3577 New England middle school youths (grades 5-8) who had reported never drinking. The question was asked, “How often do your parents let you watch R-rated movies or videos?”

Follow-up was conducted 13-36 months later using a computer assisted telephone system. Students responded via touch-tone responses. Outcome was determined by asking, “Have you ever drunk beer, wine, or other alcoholic drink that your parents did not know about?” Overall, 14.8% of the participants reported drinking without their parent’s knowledge during the survey period. A friend’s drinking played a powerful role in the choice to drink. Only 2.9% of those without a drinking friend chose to drink, while 27.8% with a peer who drank did drink. Yet – after controlling for covariates like a friend’s drinking, authoritative parenting style (how the adolescent viewed his/her parents in terms of warmth and limit setting), parent education and income, and personality characteristics of the adolescent – parental restrictions on R-movie viewing still predicted future use of alcohol.

The study showed that some of the influence of R-rated movie restrictions was due to reduced exposure to movie alcohol depictions, but some of it was “direct,” meaning that it was probably also a marker for parents who restrict other media venues with alcohol, such as television programming. In summary, children whose parents restricted access to adult media had lower likelihood of alcohol use. The researchers stated “that his study confirms a plausible causal pathway, from restrictions, to lower exposure to movies and movie alcohol depictions, to lower risk of alcohol use”.

(Tanski, SE, Cin, SD, Stoolmiller, M, Sargent, JD: Parental R rated movie restriction and early-onset alcohol use. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 71, 452-459, 2010)

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