Parent-child relationships, child temperament profiles and children's alcohol use norms.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of child temperament, parents' alcohol use norms for their children and parent-child relationship quality to children's alcohol use norms.

Method: Observational and self-report data on these variables were gathered from mothers, fathers and target children during home visits to a purposive random sample of 171 intact white families with a 10- to 12-year-old child, 85 with girls and 86 with boys.

Results: Liberality in children's norms was associated with active, sensation-seeking temperament, liberality in parents' norms and poor parent-child relationship quality. Positive parent-child, particularly father-child, relationships were associated with less liberal child norms even when parents' norms were liberal and children's temperaments were active and sensation oriented.

Conclusions: Positive parent-child relationships have a conventionalizing effect on children's alcohol use norms that moderates the effects of temperament and parental norms. The development of alcohol use norms is best described by transactional models.