title: Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?: Adolescent Interpretations of Parental Substance Use.
abstract: Parents are powerful socialization agents for children and as children reach adolescence parental role models, among other sources of influence, become particularly salient in adolescents' decision-making regarding initiation of substance use. Open parent-adolescent communication about substances is associated with less substance use by adolescents; however, it is unclear how youth interpret anti-drug use messages from their parents, especially if the parents engage in legal and/or illicit substance use themselves. Framed by social learning theory and social constructionism, this study analyzed in-depth interviews with 108 adolescents about personal experiences with substance use, family communication about substance use, and adolescent interpretations of parental use. Emergent themes in the data include: positive parental influence,parentalcontradictions, andnegative outcomes of use. Prevalence of parental use-regardless of legality, rarity of explicit communication about parental use, and various interpretations of parental use are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Communication Studies, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Box 730, Kutztown, PA, 19530.
authors.forename: Diana S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Ebersole
authors.affiliation: Communication Studies, Chapman University, 1 University Drive, Orange, CA, 92866.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miller-Day
authors.affiliation: School of Communication, The Ohio State University, 3058 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH, 43210.
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raup-Krieger