Parental Disapproval of Use and Substance Use Prevention, 2012

"• Most youths aged 12 to 17 believed their parents would "strongly disapprove" of their using substances. In 2012, 89.3 percent of youths reported that their parents would strongly disapprove of their trying marijuana or hashish once or twice, which also was the rate in 2011 and was similar to the 89.1 percent reported in 2002. Most youths in 2012 (90.5 percent) reported that their parents would strongly disapprove of their having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day, which also was the rate in 2011, but was higher than the rate in 2002 (89.0 percent). In 2012, 93.1 percent of youths reported that their parents would strongly disapprove of their smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, which was similar to the rate reported in 2011 (93.2 percent), but was higher than the 89.5 percent reported in 2002.

"• Youths aged 12 to 17 who believed their parents would strongly disapprove of their using specific substances were less likely to use these substances than were youths who believed their parents would somewhat disapprove or neither approve nor disapprove. For instance, in 2012, past month cigarette use was reported by 4.6 percent of youths who perceived strong parental disapproval if they were to smoke one or more packs of cigarettes per day compared with 31.9 percent of youths who believed their parents would not strongly disapprove. Also, past month marijuana use was much less prevalent among youths who perceived strong parental disapproval for trying marijuana or hashish once or twice than among those who did not perceive this level of disapproval (4.3 vs. 31.0 percent, respectively)."