More Talking with Parents May Protect Kids Against Later Alcohol

Being a parent is a tough job, but however ragged your kids may run you, you’re still their best chance to keep them on the straight and safe path through life. New research published in Biological Psychology has shown that parent and child relationships that include clear and regular communication help children avoid abusive behaviors as they grow into adults.

The study tracked children between the ages of eleven and thirteen over a fourteen year period, until they were twenty-five or older. Study participants who received regular and supportive attention from their parents were less likely to develop problems with alcohol or other abusive behavioral habits with food or drugs.

It wasn’t that the parents taught them good habits or managed to forbid them from developing these behaviors. The research, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, showed that children whose parents talked to them developed higher levels of cognitive brain connections. Basically, the regular conversations and contact with their parents on a conversational level helped their neurological networks more fully develop. This was shown on the fMRI scans, and is hard medical data. The findings were combined and correlated with psychological surveys of the participants, and resulted in the final study. Participants who had frequent healthy interactions with their parents were at a lower risk of abusive behavior.