Study: Parents Should Not Discuss Their Own Past Drug Use With Kids

Parents teach their children right from wrong. Parents reflect on their own childhood frequently and share their experience with the kids. But not all experiences are OK to share.

 A stage comes when parents have to discuss issues like drug and alcohol abuse. The dilemma is whether or not they should reveal their own past drug use to the kids so as to warn them of the dangers of drug use. If you think this strategy works, there is a new study that reverses this concept.

According to a latest study published in the journal, Human Communication Research, children whose parents did not disclose drug use but passed on a strong anti drug message were more likely to exhibit an antidrug attitude, reports Medicalxpress. If the kids are aware of the parents' indiscretions they will not view drugs as harmful.

The researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, came up with this conclusion after examining 561 middle school students in Illinois. The kids who reported that their parents had discussed with them about alcohol, marijuana and cigarette abuse were more likely to have an anti drug attitude.

And those parents who revealed their own past drug use, their kids were not responsive towards the anti drug message.

 In the past there were studies done that said kids were less likely to use drugs when their parents told them about their own past drug use. But the latest study, conducted by Jennifer A. Kam and Ashley V. Middleton, revealed that children, who reported that their parents spoke about the negative consequences of their past drug use, were in reality less likely to report anti-use perceptions.

Therefore, the study emphasizes on the fact that by revealing their regretful experiences with drug use to their kids, parents are actually harming their children.  

"Parents may want to reconsider whether they should talk to their kids about times when they used substances in the past and not volunteer such information," Kam was quoted in UPI. "Of course, it is important to remember this study is one of the first to examine the associations between parents' references to their own past substance use and their adolescent children's subsequent perceptions and behaviors."