Background: Parents have responsibilities when their adolescent

offspring use alcohol, but little is known about

their views on the topic. This knowledge would help

healthcare organisations to develop practices to help

parents meet their responsibilities.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe parents’ perceptions

and experiences of their responsibilities and

what support they needed to tackle underage drinking.

Design and methods: This Finnish study was carried out in

2017. It used a qualitative descriptive method that

involved carrying out semi-structured interviews with 20

parents of adolescents aged 14–15 years. The data were

analysed using inductive content analysis.

Results: Parents described that it was their responsibility

to prevent problems that could have a negative impact

on their adolescents’ well-being. When it came to their

responsibilities with regard to adolescents using alcohol,

parents saw these as guiding and protecting their child,

being aware of how parents used alcohol themselves,

the way they communicated with adolescents and the

rules they set about experimenting with alcohol. Parents

said that receiving collaborative support from peers,

community and professionals working in health and

social care services would be useful. This could help

them to prevent adolescents using alcohol, tackle problems

that occurred when adolescents drank and enable

parents to play a responsible role in their local

community.

Conclusion: Parents recognised that they had responsibilities

to prevent alcohol having a negative impact on adolescents’

well-being. They wanted to ensure that

adolescents made sensible and responsible decisions

when it came to using alcohol. Parents described that the

most important form of support was peer support from

other parents. The findings of this study can be used to

inform the development of preventive healthcare services

and support parents to meet their responsibilities with

regard to tackling underage drinking.