Drug use among adolescents and their parents: closing the generation gap in mood modification.

The relationship between adolescent and parental drug use was assessed among 8,865 Toronto students. A positive association was found between parental use of psychoactive drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, as reported by students and student psychoactive and hallucinogenic drug use. The relationship was strongest when students and parents both used psychoactive drugs. A family pattern, characterized by only mothers' use then use by both parents, was found but was common to student drug users and nonusers. There was no sex relationship in student-parent drug use. Data suggested that adolescents modeled their drug use after parental use and that in order to reduce adolescent use parental use would have to be reduced.