The role of general parenting and cannabis-specific parenting practices in adolescent cannabis and other illicit drug use

• Parental restrictive cannabis rules are related to lower adolescent drug rates.
• Children of parents who have ever used cannabis have a higher chance of cannabis use.
• Still, parents’ cannabis rules are evenly related to less adolescent cannabis use.

AimsTo investigate general and cannabis-specific parenting practices in relation to adolescent cannabis and other illicit drug use.MethodsData were derived from the Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use among students (N = 3209; aged 12–16 years) and one of their parents in 2011.ResultsLogistic regression analyses revealed that 1) parental cannabis use was significantly related to more adolescent lifetime and recent cannabis use, and 2) restrictive cannabis-specific parental rules were associated with less adolescent recent cannabis and lifetime use of other illicit drugs, even when controlled for sociodemographic factors, general parenting, adolescent tobacco use, and tobacco-specific parenting. In addition, no significant interaction was observed between parental cannabis use and cannabis-specific rules in their relation to adolescent cannabis and other illicit drug use, indicating that cannabis rules are evenly associated with adolescent drug use for families with and without parental cannabis experience.ConclusionsIn addition to general parenting practices, restrictive cannabis-specific rules are related to lower adolescent cannabis and other illicit drug rates. Parents who ever used cannabis have children with a higher prevalence of cannabis use. However, their restrictive cannabis-specific rules are equally related to a lower chance of adolescent cannabis use.