Predictive Factors of College Student Willingness to Alter Substance Use Behavior: An Investigation of the Role of Parental Relationships

Substance use, specifically, alcohol use, among college students is concerning. Despite the pervasive influence of a peer culture that promotes and supports drinking, young adults are also connected to other sources of socialization that inform their risk behaviors, including parents. Family dynamics have an appreciable influence on risk behaviors like substance use. The purpose of the present study was to further examine the degree of effect a parent has on the stability or change in college students’ substance use behavior. Using a non-clinical convenience sample of college students (n = 649), binary logistic regression was used to identify the factors that contributed to whether participants believed that their parents’ concern about their substance use would motivate them to change their substance use behavior. Substance use, consequences of drinking, and parental attachment significantly predicted propensity to change behavior.