The Role of Alcohol-specific Parental Rules in Admission for Acute Alcohol Intoxication of Dutch Adolescents

Background: The role of alcohol-specific parental rules among Dutch adolescents admitted for acute alcohol intoxication has not previously been studied.

Objective: The primary aim of this study is to explore how alcohol-specific parental rule-setting develops over time, and how this relates to alcohol intoxication characteristics.

Methods: This observational study is based on a nationwide cohort created by the Dutch Paediatric Surveillance Unit (NSCK). In total, 5,207 Dutch adolescents treated for alcohol intoxication have been reported between 2011 and 2017. Alcohol-specific parental rule-setting was defined as a nominal variable with three categories: zero tolerance, partial permission and approval. To determine whether time trends were specific for sociodemographic subgroups, multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. Associations between alcohol-specific parental rules and intoxication characteristics were explored using regression analyses.

Results: In the study population, partial permission and approval of adolescent alcohol use showed a decreasing trend between 2011 and 2017, while a zero-tolerance alcohol-specific rule-setting showed an increasing trend. A zero-tolerance parental rule setting was associated with positive outcome measures, such as a lower number of alcoholic units consumed per day on weekends and an older age at admission for acute alcohol intoxication. Parental approval was associated with higher quantities of regular alcohol use and higher odds for tobacco use.

Conclusion: This study shows that the strictness of alcohol-specific parental rules is associated with various outcome measures in adolescents with acute alcohol intoxication. The zero-tolerance alcohol-specific parental rule-setting seems to be the most effective in the prevention of adolescent alcohol use in early adolescence. Therefore, addressing the subject of alcohol-specific parental rules is especially important in groups with a high prevalence of partial permission or approval for adolescents alcohol use, namely late adolescence (between 15-18 years) and adolescents with a native Dutch ethnicity.