Parent Awareness of Youth Use of Cigarettes, Alcohol, and Marijuana

Highlights:

• SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health includes a sample of parents and their children who live in the same household. These parent-child pairs are composed of a child aged 12 to 17 and his or her biological, step, adoptive, or foster parent.

• Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, mothers were more likely than fathers to be aware of their child's substance use in the past year regardless of the household having only the mother or both parents.

• Fathers in two parent households were more likely than fathers in father-only households to be aware of their child's substance use in the past year.

• The older the child, the more likely that parents were aware of their child's alcohol and cigarette use in the past year.

• Past year substance use by youth was higher in one-parent households than those with both parents.

• Within one-parent households, substance use by youth was generally higher among youth in father-child pairs than mother-child pairs

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