Exploring Associations Among Parent-Student Relationship Quality Profiles and Substance Use Across the Transition to College

Introduction

Incoming college students are at increased risk for a number of health-related consequences due to increased alcohol consumption and other risky behaviors. A growing literature suggests that parents still matter during this period and are valuable agents for substance use prevention efforts on college campuses.

Specific parenting behaviors (i.e. monitoring; communication) can impact college student alcohol/substance use. However, few studies examine how the impact of parenting behaviors varies as a function of parent-student relationship characteristics (e.g., warmth, closeness, conflict, control). Moreover, given that parent-based interventions (PBIs) have been identified as promising avenues for college substance use prevention efforts, it is critical to understand the conditions under which interventions are most effective.

The goals of this study are to 1) use Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify profiles of parent-student relationship quality across the transition to college, 2) determine how profiles relate to students’ substance use, and 3) explore if relationship quality moderates the impact of a parent handbook intervention on students’ substance use.  

Method

Data were drawn from an evaluation of a parent-based handbook intervention at a large university in the Northwest. Six hundred parents and their first-year students were randomly assigned to the handbook or control condition. Students completed baseline (n=121) and posttest (n=139) surveys online the summer before college enrollment and 8 weeks into the fall semester.

Results

Students assigned to handbook condition had a lower likelihood of initiating alcohol use and nonmedical prescription drug use. Similarly, among alcohol users, handbook students were less likely to use alcohol in the previous 30 days, and among marijuana users, were less likely to use marijuana in the previous 30 days.

Future analyses will focus on theoretically-based relationship quality constructs (i.e. satisfaction, conflict, closeness, and support) as indicators in an LCA model to identify subgroups with unique baseline profiles (e.g., low conflict, high closeness). We will incorporate student-reported posttest substance use to determine if use varies across profiles. Finally, we will explore whether the profiles moderate the impact of the handbook on students’ substance use.

Implications

Person-centered approaches provide important information for understanding the complexities of parent-student relationships. Identification of profiles expands current parent-child relationship literature and can be used to tailor and adapt PBIs across a range of health-related outcomes.