Exploring adolescent-parent interaction strategies for accessing alcohol at home
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which youth have ready access to alcohol and the extent to which immediate family influence affects consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative descriptive exploratory study undertook semi-structured peer-group interviews with 20 participants from four New Zealand high schools. The interviews centred on exploring the “general” experiences of youth related to alcohol access – but with a focus on alcohol access “at home” and the parental role.
Findings
The study confirmed that the home unit was the main source of alcohol for most youth and parents were the most common source of provision. Parents provided financial access to alcohol by giving their child money to purchase it themselves through older family members or friends. It was also found that youth used negotiation strategies with their parents to influence their consumer purchases of alcohol.
Research limitations/implications
Youth frequently used strategies such as pressure tactics, exchange tactics, ingratiating tactics and consultation tactics to influence their family’s decision-making process and to pressure their parents into supplying them with alcohol.
Practical implications
It is important to recognise the role that family play as “gatekeepers” for readily allowing access and supplying youth with alcohol – and the reasons for doing so.
Social implications
Alcohol plays an important part in many societies. It is important to understand how young people consume and access alcohol – particularly when the family plays a major role in access and consumption.
Originality/value
Many studies have been conducted in relation to youth and alcohol consumption. Very few, as far as we can tell, explore the role of the family from the young consumers’ perspective and especially from a qualitative narrative perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Health Promotion team from the MidCentral District Health Board for their assistance with the research. The authors extend special thanks to Sharon Vera, Sarah Pore and Niklas Dresler for assisting the authors with the data collection.
Citation
Dresler, E., Whitehead, D. and Weaver, K. (2017), "Exploring adolescent-parent interaction strategies for accessing alcohol at home", Health Education, Vol. 117 No. 6, pp. 566-580. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-01-2017-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited