How active parenting can help reduce the risk of teen marijuana abuse

A review of recent studies conducted by professors at Claremont Graduate University showed that teens whose parents take an active role in knowing the details of their lives are significantly less likely to abuse marijuana than other teens.

Some parents might think that there is little they can do to stop their teens from abusing drugs or alcohol. After all, kids will experiment and push boundaries, and the best these parents think they can hope for is that their sons or daughters move past that phase in their lives and don't wind up with a serious drug or alcohol addiction.

However, this is not the case at all. Recent research has disproven this theory of parenting and shown that children are less likely to wind up with an alcohol or drug addiction if their parents take an active role in their lives. The same pattern between active parenting and avoiding drug treatment also holds true for children avoiding trying drugs such as marijuana in the first place.

Marijuana is the most frequently-used drug by high school students, with a recent study showing that 42 percent of all teens had tried pot, with many of them later becoming addicted to other drugs and needing to go to an addiction treatment program. However, research done at Claremont Graduate University showed a correlation between the involvement levels of parents in their teens' lives and the likelihood that their children would experiment with drugs and possibly need drug or alcohol treatment in the future.

The main effect involved is parental monitoring - no matter what the parents were doing, if they were monitoring their children in some way, the kids were less likely to be experimenting with drugs that could eventually lead them into drug rehabilitation.

So the message is clear - active parents are parents whose children are less likely to fall into the trap of addiction and need alcohol or drug treatment down the road. If you are a parent who is concerned about your child's attitudes toward drugs and alcohol, it's important to have an open dialogue with them about the situation - and make sure they know that you take it seriously and will be watching out for them.

- Annabeth Morrison is a freelance writer living in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. She has written for major magazines, newspapers and online news sites.