Chuan-Yu Chen, PhD, Dept. of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University, 8th Fl., 624 N. Broadway st., Baltimore, MD 21205, Carla Storr, ScD, Dept. of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins U. School of Public Health, 8th Fl., 624 N. Broadway St., Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-955-0422, Cstorr@JHSPH.edu, and James C. Anthony, PhD, Dept. of Epidemiology, College of Human Medicine, The Michigan State University, West Fee Hall, 6th Fl., (B601), East Lansing, MI 48824.

Objectives: Connections between parental monitoring and adolescent drug experiences have been examined in several studies, but few have examined other dimensions of parental practices sometimes termed coercive discipline or inept parenting. In this study, we extend this focus to the earliest stage of cannabis involvement, i.e., the first chance to try cannabis, and seek to estimate the extent to which parental monitoring (PM), parental involvement and reinforcement (PIR), and coercive parental discipline might exert different influences upon subsequent risk of having a chance to try cannabis.

Methods. Data are from a prospective study of youths who entered first grade in 1985-86 in the public school system of a mid-Atlantic state. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to assess parental practices at fourth grade, and for 1222 youths, cannabis experiences were evaluated on a yearly basis in adolescence (1986-1994) and at two occasions in adulthood (2000-2002).

Results. Within the framework of a regression model with statistical control of multiple covariates (including exposure to drug-using peers), higher levels of parental monitoring and parental involvement in fourth grade signalled future reduced risk of cannabis exposure opportunity before age 24 (PM: p<0.01; PIR:p<0.01), whereas coercive parental discipline signalled increased future risk of cannabis exposure opportunity (p<0.05).

Conclusions. Adept or inept parenting in the primary school years may function as a shield or to hasten onset of adolescent drug experiences, including the occurrence and timing of a youth's first chances to try illegal drugs such as cannabis. Here, we see some support for the theory that parental influence is manifest at the earliest stages of drug involvement (i.e., first chance to try).

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