When talking to teenagers about drugs, should parents share their own drug use stories? Parents might be tempted to offer up stories from their past in hopes of opening the lines of communication with a teenager. Some parents might believe that in discussing past drug use that they are creating an environment of non-secrecy and trust. But such honesty could have its downfall.
A recent study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that parents volunteering information about their own drug-related habits when talking to teenagers about drugs led to “unintended consequences.” But that’s not to say that you shouldn’t talk to them at all about drugs. Teenagers whose parents talk to them about drugs tend to have an anti-drug attitude. It’s just best for parents to not talk about their own drug use. When parents offered up this sort of information, their teenagers tended have a more relaxed attitude towards drugs, saying “using drugs wasn’t such a big deal.” This might be because teenagers see drug use as less risky if their parents’ lives are on track, or that they were less likely to get in trouble over drug use because their parents did it as well.
