Associations of Parental Monitoring and Behavioral Control with Substance Use in Adolescents and Emerging Adults: A Meta-Analysis

It is important to identify factors that may prevent and/or reduce substance use in adolescents and emerging adults. The present meta-analysis tested how parental general behavioral control (e.g., rule setting, strictness) and aspects of monitoring relate to substance use in adolescents and emerging adults. The study has been preregistered at OSF. Search in electronic databases resulted in 571 studies with 2,006,077 participants that were included in hierarchic random-effects meta-analysis. We found a small to moderate bivariate association (<i>r</i> = −0.16), and analysis of cross-lagged associations identified bidirectional links between control/monitoring and substance use (<i>r</i> = −0.08 each). Trim-and-fill analysis found no evidence for a file-drawer problem. While results did not vary between consumption of different substances, we found strongest associations in studies that assessed parental knowledge and child disclosure while associations were weakest in studies assessing parental solicitation. Associations of parenting and substance use were strongest in mid-adolescence. Effect sizes were also stronger when focusing on the parental dyad rather than on mothers and fathers separately and when information on parenting and substance use came from the same source. We conclude that promotion of parental knowledge and child self-disclosure in mid-adolescence would be most promising for limiting young people’s substance use.