How Your Substance Use — and Parenting Style — May Influence Your Teen’s Drug and Alcohol Habits

You pour a glass of wine after a long day. Maybe your partner steps outside for a cigarette. Maybe there’s cannabis in the mix, too. For many parents, these habits feel separate from their kids. They are your adult choices, after all.

But new research suggests that the pattern of substance use inside a home may matter more than many families realize. A study just published in Addictive Behaviors found that when parents use multiple substances (and not just alcohol alone), their teens are statistically more likely to use multiple substances themselves. 

While the findings don’t suggest inevitability, they do highlight a measurable link that’s worth noting, especially for parents navigating the already complicated teen years.

RELATED: Teen Drinking and Drug Use Is Staying Low After Historic Pandemic Drop, Studies Show

More on the Study

The Addictive Behaviors researchers analyzed data from more than 4,000 families, examining substance use patterns in both caregivers and adolescents. Rather than simply asking whether parents or teens used alcohol or drugs, the study identified distinct “profiles,” like abstainers, alcohol-only users, and multi-substance users. From there, they looked at how those patterns aligned across generations.

Here’s a snapshot of the patterns they found:

In other words, the shift from single-substance use to multi-substance use in parents corresponded with higher rates of more complex substance use patterns in adolescents.

Zooming out, this isn’t an isolated finding. Research from Current Drug Abuse Review in 2012 found that children who grow up in environments where their parents have substance use disorders are at greater risk of developing substance use disorders of their own as they enter adulthood. They were compared with peers who did not have that exposure. In the longitudinal analysis, by the time those children reached young adulthood, about 53% of those with parents who abused alcohol or drugs had an alcohol or drug use disorder themselves, compared with roughly 25% of their peers without that family history.

Another report published in Development and Psychopathology also found consistent links between parental alcohol, tobacco, and drug use and children’s long-term physical, psychological, and cognitive well-being. This suggests these patterns can influence child development more broadly, even beyond substance use itself.

It’s Not Just About What Parents Use, But How They Parent

It’s important to note that the new study didn’t conclude that teens automatically mirror their caregivers. In fact, many adolescents in homes where parents used substances remained abstinent.

One of the key findings was that parenting style played a meaningful role. Supportive, structured parenting (the kind that’s “authoritative” and warm but with clear expectations and boundaries) was associated with lower likelihood that teens would adopt similar substance use patterns.

It suggests that while parental behavior sets a tone, it doesn’t seal a teen’s fate. And as always, engagement, communication, and consistent boundaries with your kids can still make a difference. We know that can be a balancing act. You’re watching your kid become more independent — socially, emotionally, digitally — while trying to protect them from risks that feel bigger than when we were growing up. 

Consider this report just another piece of that conversation. It doesn’t mean that your glass (or two, or three) of wine leads to inevitable teen drinking. Just know that kids are absorbing more than we realize. And perhaps just as importantly, the study suggests that connection and clear expectations remain powerful tools.