title: Is high-risk use of  intoxicants more common among adolescents who have seen their parents  intoxicated?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Young people's alcohol consumption is related to their parents' alcohol consumption, but little focus has been placed on whether there is a connection with parental intoxication. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether the experience of seeing their parents intoxicated is associated with young people's alcohol consumption and experimenting with drugs in their teens.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study is prospective and based on data from 2,399 teenagers who took part in the Ung-HUNT 1 study in 1995-1997 and the Ung-HUNT 2 study in 2000-2001. Self-reported questionnaire data and analysis by means of logistic regression, stratified by gender, were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Having been drunk > 10 times was associated with having seen their parents intoxicated among boys (OR 3.7; 95% CI 2.7-5.1 and girls (OR 2.0; 1.5-2.6). Drinking alcohol weekly or more frequently was associated with parental intoxication among boys (OR 2.2; 1.6-3.0), but not girls unless they had seen their parents drunk many times (OR 2.4; 1.1-5.2). Experimenting with drugs was associated with parental intoxication among both boys (OR 2.6; 1.7-3.9) and girls (OR 1.6; 1.1-2.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Repeated intoxication, frequent alcohol consumption and experimenting with drugs by teenagers were associated with seeing their parents intoxicated. There are other explanatory factors for which the study was unable to control, and interpretation of the results should take this into account.
authors.affiliation: HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. siri.h.haugland@ntnu.no
authors.forename: Siri Håvås
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Haugland
authors.forename: Arve
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strandheim
authors.forename: Grete
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bratberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires