The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS): Parents with children in grades 7-12 2006, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, August 2007

PATS is an annual study of parental attitudes and behaviors towards teen drug use. It delves into what parents are thinking and how they respond to the continual changes in the drug landscape.

The 19th annual study found that as teens continue to intentionally abuse medicines to get high, more parents are aware of the threat, but are not taking action. The number of discussions between parents and teens about the dangers and risks of using drugs and alcohol has decreased significantly.  More alarming is the misperception among many parents that the abuse of RX (prescription) and OTC (over the counter) medications is safer than the use of illegal drugs.

• There is a 12 percent decline from 2005 in the frequent (four or more) conversations between parents and teens about the dangers of drug and alcohol use;
• Only half of parents (54 percent) reported in-depth discussions about the abuse of drugs like heroin, cocaine, and crack with their kids;
• Only 36 percent of parents reported having in-depth conversations about abuse of RX medications and only 33 percent have thoroughly discussed the abuse of OTC cough and cold medicines with their teens;
• Nearly one in five teens (4.5 million) has abused prescription medicine;
• Nearly one in ten teens has abused cough and cold medicines, some containing the active ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM);
• Three out of ten (27 percent) parents feel that RX and OTC medicine are much safer to use than illegal drugs;
• One out of five (22 percent) parents believe teens us RX pain relievers because parents feel RX medicines are safer to abuse than illegal drugs;
• One-third of parents have a need for more information about drugs;
• 30 percent of parents need tips on how to start a discussion about drugs;
• 37 percent of parents need information on how to tell if a child is using drugs;
• Parents are underestimating teens experimentation with drugs; parents are less likely to think their teen has tried drugs than teens' actually report;

The full report can be found at http://drugfree.org/Files/Parent_with_children