An interesting debate impacting parents and college students is brewing in Minnesota. The debate boils down to this basic question.

“Should parents be notified when their college student son or daughter (almost all of whom are considered adults under the law) are involved in incidents with drugs or alcohol?”

It is no secret that drugs and alcohol, particularly binge drinking, exists as it always has, but it has gotten way out control as these statistics show…

Death: 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes (Hingson et al., 2005).

Injury: 599,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol (Hingson et al., 2005).

Assault: More than 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking (Hingson et al., 2005).

Sexual Abuse: More than 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape (Hingson et al., 2005).

Unsafe Sex: 400,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 had unprotected sex and more than 100,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report having been too intoxicated to know if they consented to having sex (Hingson et al., 2002).

Academic Problems: About 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall (Engs et al., 1996; Presley et al., 1996a, 1996b; Wechsler et al., 2002).

Health Problems/Suicide Attempts: More than 150,000 students develop an alcohol-related health problem (Hingson et al., 2002) and between 1.2 and 1.5 percent of students indicate that they tried to commit suicide within the past year due to drinking or drug use (Presley et al., 1998).

Drunk Driving: 2.1 million students between the ages of 18 and 24 drove under the influence of alcohol last year (Hingson et al., 2002).

Vandalism: About 11 percent of college student drinkers report that they have damaged property while under the influence of alcohol (Wechsler et al., 2002).

Property Damage: More than 25 percent of administrators from schools with relatively low drinking levels and over 50 percent from schools with high drinking levels say their campuses have a “moderate” or “major” problem with alcohol-related property damage (Wechsler et al., 1995).

Police Involvement: About 5 percent of 4-year college students are involved with the police or campus security as a result of their drinking (Wechsler et al., 2002) and an estimated 110,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are arrested for an alcohol-related violation such as public drunkenness or driving under the influence (Hingson et al., 2002).

Alcohol Abuse and Dependence: 31 percent of college students met criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence in the past 12 months, according to questionnaire-based self-reports about their drinking (Knight et al., 2002).

A bill was introduced in Minnesota that would allow parental notification to parents if a student violates a law or school policy governing “the use or possession of alcohol or of a controlled substance.” It has been introduced twice before and failed. 

With every issue, there are multiple sides:                

Side 1: Parents have a right to know. By knowing if their son or daughter is abusing alcohol or drugs, they have a chance to do something about it.

Side 2: These students are adults. They may not be 21 and legally able to drink, but they are (for the most part) at least 18, and 18 year olds are considered adults.

Side 3: The universities don’t want more problems, injuries and deaths so they are looking for solutions to prevent these issues.

Side 4: Members of Minnesota government are looking for ways to ensure the safety of the students and families who attend the colleges in their state.

The concern I have is that by notifying parents, universities are depending on parents to fix the problem. Parents can certainly influence their college-aged children, but how effective they can be is another question. Parents tend to have much less influence on their children as they grow older – so they tend to have less influence on college-aged children then they do when these sons and daughters were in high school.

I suspect this will be an ongoing debate over a very serious issue. If you have a child in college, then we suggest that you maintain a consistent open dialog with your son or daughter. You should listen for signs that your son or daughter or is using drugs or alcohol and don’t be afraid to outright ask them. Also consider attending our live, online parenting seminar: Kids and Alcohol:  What Every  Parent Needs to Know, Even If You Think You Already Know  It.