Cross-sectional study on parental pro-drinking practices and adolescent alcohol drinking in Hong Kong.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between parental pro-drinking practices (PPDPs) and alcohol drinking in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: 4 randomly selected secondary schools in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: 1738 students (mean age 14.6 years ± 2.0, boys 67.8%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Drinking status, drinking intention and exposure to 9 PPDPs (eg, seeing parents drunk, helping parents buy alcohol, encouraged to drink by parents) were reported by students. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted ORs (AORs) of drinking and intention to drink by each PPDP and the number of PPDPs (0, 1-2, 3-4, 5 or above), adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, parental drinking and school clustering. RESULTS: Nearly half (48.6%) of the students were ever-drinkers, 16.2% drank monthly (at least once per month) and 40.3% intended to drink in the next 12 months. Most PPDPs were significantly associated with ever drinking (AORs 1.40-6.20), monthly drinking (AORs 1.12-8.20) and intention to drink (AORs 1.40-5.02). Both ever and monthly drinking were most strongly associated with parental training of drinking capacity (ability to drink more without getting drunk) with AORs of 6.20 and 8.20 (both p<0.001), respectively. Adolescent drinking intention was most strongly associated with parental encouragement of drinking and training of drinking capacity with AORs of 3.19 and 5.02 (both p<0.001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to PPDPs was associated with ever drinking, monthly drinking and drinking intention in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. More studies, especially prospective studies, should be conducted to confirm these results, followed by interventional studies.

Family Smoking, Exposure to Secondhand Smoke at Home and Family Unhappiness in Children.

Tobacco use adversely affects many aspects of well-being and is disliked by non-smokers. However, its association with family happiness is unknown. We investigated the associations of family unhappiness with smoking in family members and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure at home in Hong Kong children. In a school-based survey in 2012-2013, 1238 primary school students (mean age 8.5 years, standard deviation 0.9; 42.6% boys) reported family smoking, SHS exposure at home and whether their families had any unpleasant experience caused by smoking or SHS in the past 30 days (tobacco-related unpleasant experience), and rated the overall level of happiness in their families (family unhappiness). Multivariable logistic regression was used to study the associations of tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness with family smoking and SHS exposure at home. Tobacco-related unpleasant experience and family unhappiness were reported by 27.5% and 16.5% of students. Unpleasant experience was more strongly associated with family smoking than SHS exposure at home. Family unhappiness was associated with both family smoking (odds ratio 2.37; 95% confidence interval 1.51-3.71) and SHS exposure at home (1.82; 1.39-2.40). These results suggest a previously neglected possible impact of tobacco use on family happiness.

Correlates of pro-drinking practices in drinking parents of adolescents in Hong Kong.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Parental alcohol-related practices are important risk factors of adolescent drinking, but little is known about the factors associated with these parental pro-drinking practices (PPDPs). We investigated the correlates of 9 PPDPs in drinking parents of adolescents in Hong Kong. METHODS: A total of 2200 students (age 14.8±2.0; boys 63.2%) participated in a school-based cross-sectional survey in 2012. Analysis was restricted to 1087 (61.8%) students with at least 1 drinking parent as PPDPs were much more common in these families. Logistic regression was used to identify correlates of each PPDP. RESULTS: Among 1087 students, the prevalence of PPDPs ranged from 8.2% for training drinking capacity to 65.7% for seeing parents drink. Only 14.8% of students had not experienced any of these practices. More frequent maternal drinking predicted parental training of drinking capacity. Older age predicted helping parents buy alcohol and parental encouragement of drinking. Adolescent girls were more likely to have received parental training of drinking capacity than boys. Higher perceived family affluence was associated with hearing parents saying benefits of drinking, and helping parents open bottle and pour alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: PPDPs were associated with parental drinking frequency and various socio-demographic factors. These results have implications on alcohol control programmes involving parents to tailor messages for reducing PPDPs based on the characteristics of adolescents and parents.

Alcohol drinking and pro-drinking practices in parents of Hong Kong adolescents.

AIMS: We investigated the prevalence of various parental pro-drinking practices and its association with parental drinking status. METHODS: A school-based survey was completed by 2200 students (mean age 14.8, SD 2.0; boys 51.4%) from 4 randomly selected secondary schools in Hong Kong. Students reported whether they had ever experienced each of nine parental pro-drinking practices (PPDPs). RESULTS: Overall, 67.5% of students reported at least one PPDP, but the prevalence was much higher if both parents were drinkers (89.0%) compared with non-drinkers (38.8%). The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (95% CI) of experiencing at least one PPDP was 6.79 (4.98, 9.26) if either parent drank and 15.71 (10.50, 23.50) if both drank compared with none (P for trend <0.001). Compared with non-drinking, the AORs (95% CI) of experiencing at least one PPDP for occasional drinking and frequent drinking were 6.72 (5.03, 8.98) and 18.11 (9.88, 33.18) in fathers (P for trend <0.001), and 7.33 (5.15, 10.44) and 5.33 (1.98, 14.45) in mothers. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of PPDPs was generally low in non-drinking parents, but increased dramatically with the number of drinking parents and the frequency of paternal drinking.