title: Perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling and risky behaviors in adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling may relate to adolescents' engagement in various risky behaviors. To examine this possibility, we analyzed data from a high-school based risk-behavior survey to assess relationships between perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling and adolescent gambling behavior, substance use and related problems. We also evaluated predictions that relationships between perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling and risky behaviors would be particularly strong amongst adolescents reporting high sensation-seeking or impulsivity.
  
  
  METHODS
  High-school students (n = 2,805) provided data on risky behaviors, perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling, impulsivity and sensation-seeking. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships with gambling and alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling related significantly to adolescent gambling, all substance-use behaviors as well as alcohol and drug problems. There were significant parental-permissiveness-by-sensation-seeking interactions in multiple models. Relationships between perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling and alcohol-use frequency were particularly strong among those with high sensation-seeking. This relationship also applied to gambling and heavy cigarette smoking, albeit to a lesser extent. Impulsivity related strongly to drug problems among those who perceived their parents to be more and less permissive toward gambling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support the relevance of perceived parental permissiveness toward gambling to adolescent risky behaviors. Parenting perceived as less permissive toward gambling appeared to have protective effects on gambling, alcohol and cigarette use, even among those with high sensation-seeking. Reducing parental permissiveness toward gambling may be a valuable intervention goal, particularly for parents of sensation-seeking adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Leeman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Patock-Peckham
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA ; VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Rani A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Suchitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishnan-Sarin
authors.affiliation: Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Guilford, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Marvin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Problem Gambling Services of Connecticut, Middletown, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Loreen J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Rugle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA ; Department of Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA ; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Marc N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Potenza
keywords: alcohol; cigarette; impulsivity; marijuana; sensation seeking; smoking