Parent substance use

There is strong evidence to suggest that parents’ drinking behaviours and substance

use habits can impact their child’s own engagement in risky behaviours (drinking,

smoking, vaping and taking drugs; Smith et al., 2016); if a child sees their parent(s)

smoking, vaping or drinking alcohol on a regular basis, they may be more inclined to

mimic their parent(s) behaviour and do so themselves. Further, if the parent is a

regular drinker or smoker, they may have more liberal attitudes to their child’s own

engagement in similar behaviours as they enter adolescence (Murphy et al., 2016).

Whilst 3-year-olds will not be engaging in these risky health behaviours themselves,

their parents’ engagement in and attitudes to risky behaviour now is predictive of

their behaviour in the future, when their child will be at risk of drinking and smoking.

Environmental tobacco smoke, stemming from parents smoking, is extremely harmful

for a child, and can lead to increased risk of asthma and other respiratory conditions

(Vanker et al., 2017).

Research on the effects of parental drug use on children typically highlights such

problem behaviours as antisocial behaviour and conduct or oppositional disorders in

the child (Smith, 1993; Willens et al., 1995), as well as negative impacts on the quality

of parenting provided for the child (Dawe et al, 2007).

With all of this in mind, it is important to gather information on both parent’s

engagement in smoking, vaping, drinking and drug use throughout the course of

study child’s childhood and adolescence. These questions would be better suited to a

self-complete module.

Previous alcohol screening questions in Growing Up in Ireland

In the interest of facilitating cross-cohort comparisons between Cohort 08 at age 3

and previous waves of Growing Up in Ireland (for all three cohorts), it is worth

considering the alcohol-specific screening tools that were employed at past waves

and whether they would be suitable for inclusion at the forthcoming wave of

Growing Up in Ireland.

Traditionally, Growing Up in Ireland has employed questions derived from one of two

alcohol screening tools at any given wave of the study; the AUDIT or the FAST

screening tools. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is a 10-item

scale that asks questions related to alcohol intake, potential alcohol dependence and

experience of alcohol-related harm (Higgins-Biddle & Babor, 2018). It was developed

in a World Health Organization study and is widely validated. The Fast Alcohol

Screening Tool (FAST) was developed as a shorter alternative to the AUDIT and

includes just four items; these questions explore alcohol intake and experience of

potential alcohol-related harm. It has also been validated as a reliable screening tool

(John et al., 2021).

The FAST scale has been used for screening parental alcohol use for Cohort 08 at age

13, Cohort 98 at ages 13, 17 and 20 years, and Cohort 24 at nine months. The AUDIT

scale was included in the Young Person questionnaire for Cohort 98 at age 17, 20

and 25 years.

Recommendations for Cohort 24 at 3 years:

•Repeat questions from Cohort 24 at 9mths and Cohort 08 at 3yrs asking parent(s) if they drink, smoke, vape or take drugs. The FAST alcohol screening tool, used at Wave 1 for this cohort, should be retained.

Gambling