How parents' talks and behaviors shape teen drinking

Parent-adolescent alcohol discussions and parent alcohol socialization

['FUNDING_R01'] · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · NIH-11145073

This project looks at how parents' conversations, attitudes, and supervised sipping influence drinking risk in tweens and teens.

Quick facts

Phase['FUNDING_R01']
Study typeNih_funding
SexAll
SponsorSTATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO (nih funded)
Locations1 site (AMHERST, UNITED STATES)
Trial IDNIH-11145073 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this research studies

You and your teen would take part in recorded conversations about alcohol so researchers can study how you interact during these talks. The team will use continuous, moment-by-moment measures of interpersonal dynamics during the discussions and collect information on parenting style and parental drinking. They will follow up to link those interaction patterns with youth drinking behavior over time. The goal is to identify which kinds of parental approaches help delay or reduce teen drinking and which might unintentionally increase risk.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Parents and their children in late childhood through adolescence (roughly ages 10–18) who are willing to participate in recorded conversations about alcohol would be ideal candidates.

Not a fit: Adults without adolescent children, or teens already living with severe alcohol dependence, may not directly benefit from participating.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, the findings could help parents choose conversation styles that reduce the chance their child starts or escalates drinking.

How similar studies have performed: Prior research shows parental drinking and modeling affect youth alcohol use, but studies of parental conversations and supervised sipping have produced mixed results, so this approach is still being clarified.

Where this research is happening

AMHERST, UNITED STATES

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.

View on NIH RePORTER →

Last reviewed 2026-05-15 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.