This is the fifth in a series of blogs examining benefits of parental monitoring.
A study was conducted by doctoral students attending Claremont University in California on parents, teens and marijuana use.
The researcher reported that marijuana is the most widely used by teens, and that 42% have used pot by their senior year of high school (year 12 in America).
“What we have been noticing in our research is that parental monitoring seems to have a strong relationship to lessening of drug use in young adolescents,” the researcher states. The research reviewed 17 other studies on parental monitoring and substance use among youth. “It was clear that kids who thought their parents were monitoring them used much less marijuana than kids who didn’t.”
The following are quotes from this researcher:
There are two ways parents can monitor their children, either they watch them like a hawk or the kid discloses what he’s up to. Both methods work to keep children away from drugs.
If parents give the impression to their kids that they really care about them, that they are really watching what they are doing, that they are concerned, that has a strong impact on what the children are going to do in terms of antisocial behavior, which includes marijuana use.
The study goes on to report that the White House Drug Czar agrees with their findings.
So, despite the popular idea that teens need personal space and prefer parents who stay out of their business, this study proves that when your kids know you are monitoring them there is a direct a effect to reduce marijuana use.
These findings pose two questions: Do you monitor your kids? Do your kids know that they are being monitored?
Proverbs 19:18 NIV – “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope.”