Aloitteellinen, reagoija ja rajoittaja – Vanhempien positiot kertomuksissa alkoholiaiheisista keskusteluista nuoren kanssa
Keywords:
alcohol prevention, everyday discourse, family, negotiation, parenting.Abstract
Experts and preventive workers often advice parents to talk about alcohol with their teenagers. Regarding this issue, the aim of this article was to ex- amine those discussions from the parents’ point of view. The main questions were 1) what intentions defined the parents’ subject positions, and 2) how the parents construed a decent parenting? The material consisted of 28 parents’ interviews and 50 written stories about the discussions with the teen- agers. Results: the intentions that parents indicated for discussions defined initiative, reactive or restrictive positions for parents. They tried to warn their teenagers about the risks of drinking, or to limit their drinking, or conversely actively tried to familiarize their teenagers with alcohol. Parents construed decent parenting by talking about themes like responsibility, trust, interaction, negotiation, understanding, reflective parenting, monitoring, role modeling, and reasonable drinking. Some parents deliberately didn’t discuss with their children, not to unintentionally awake their interest to alcohol. Conclusions: These findings indicate that parents share the experts’ view that the discussions were important. Yet the intentions of discussions could vary depending on the parents’ personal opinions. The experts and preventive workers should develop methods by which they support parents to be prepared to discuss alcohol with their teenagers.
