{"id":35823,"date":"2023-12-13T02:18:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T02:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=35823"},"modified":"2023-12-17T13:48:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T13:48:38","slug":"drinking-during-holidays-and-special-occasions-could-affect-how-you-parent-your-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/drinking-during-holidays-and-special-occasions-could-affect-how-you-parent-your-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinking during holidays and special occasions could affect how you parent your\u00a0kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bridget Freisthler<\/a>, The Ohio State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much alcohol do you typically drink in a week? A month? A year? Did your answer take into account how much you drink on New Year\u2019s Eve? On Christmas? During the Super Bowl or World Cup?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When researchers compare how much alcohol is sold to how much people say they drink, alcohol consumption is underestimated by anywhere from 30% in the U.S.<\/a> to 80% in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special occasions such as holidays, weddings or major sporting events make up much of that difference. How much a person drinks at a special event<\/a> can vary quite a bit, adding an extra four drinks per week for men and three drinks per week for women<\/a>, and people usually don\u2019t include these splurges in their tallies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My research<\/a> team studies alcohol use and its effects on parenting, with an ultimate goal to identify strategies that support positive parenting<\/a>. Particularly in the festive holiday season \u2013 filled with gatherings where drinking is commonplace \u2013 understanding how special-occasion drinking affects how parents treat their children could help people change their routines in ways that make these occasions more enjoyable for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcohol\u2019s effects on social problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not news that alcohol is related to many social problems: violence<\/a>, traffic crashes<\/a>, child abuse and neglect<\/a>. Alcohol can enable bad behavior during special occasions. Incidents of drunken driving are<\/a> highest after New Year\u2019s Eve<\/a>, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcohol use by men on days of major sporting events is related to more violence toward their families<\/a>. However, because this relationship has been primarily studied among men, we don\u2019t know if it is the same for women. Women\u2019s drinking has increased<\/a> over the past several decades, making this an important topic to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinking while parenting can cause lax supervision of children or more harsh parenting practices<\/a>. In our recent study, my colleagues and I wanted to see if a parent\u2019s alcohol use on two special occasions was related to the use of aggressive discipline \u2013 whether physical punishment like spanking, or psychological aggression like yelling and name-calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of a larger study<\/a>, we focused on two special occasions where drinking might differ from a typical day: Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine\u2019s Day. What we found surprised us<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drinking more on special days<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In February 2021, we asked 307 parents to take three brief daily surveys for 14 days. We pushed a text message to parents\u2019 phones at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. that asked questions about whether they had used specific discipline strategies since the last survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the seventh and 14th day, the survey included questions about whether parents drank alcohol during the past week. If they did, we asked them to tell us on which days, and during what time frames. We matched the days and times they drank with parenting behaviors they\u2019d previously reported. Importantly, 93% of parents in our study were mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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