The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 85

Parental Notification of Alcohol or Drug-Related Violations

Limitations of the Study
A limitation of this study was a relatively low
response rate (20.2%) due to a lack of access
to identifying information needed to target
non-respondents. Additionally, the parental
notification letter and practices used by this
institution may differ from those used by other
colleges or universities employing similar parental notification policies. As such, the findings of this study may not be directly applicable
to other institutions.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the
survey relied on voluntary, self-report data
from respondents. Those parents who chose
to complete the survey may have been more
likely to respond favorably and therefore may
not be representative of the study population
as a whole or college parents in general.
A final limitation is the lack of data regarding students’ perceptions of and experiences
with parental notification and any resultant
changes in attitudes or behaviors regarding
alcohol and other drug use.

Recommendations for Future Research
This study has provided valuable information
about the parental notification policy currently
in place at one university. Other institutions
currently implementing such policies would
benefit from undertaking similar studies to
determine parental responses. Conducting a
similar study would assist residence life officials in assessing their parental notification
policies and practices to ensure that they are
meeting the specific goals they have set for the
policy on their campus.

samples of parents and their students in order
to compare and contrast responses and gain a
broader understanding of parent and student
perceptions of parental notification.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Substance use and abuse among college students is a major concern facing college and
university housing officials (Gfroerer et al.,
1997; Ham & Hope, 2003; Hingson et al.,
2009; LaBrie & Cail, 2011; Wechsler et al.,
2004). As residence life staff work to enhance
student success and address issues that
impede student and community development,
it is beneficial to collaborate with all available stakeholders, both on and off campus, to
combat the growing problem of alcohol and
other drug use. One possible strategy for residence life officials to explore as they address
substance use among underage college students living on campus is parental notification.
A parental notification policy can be an effective tool to encourage parental intervention in
cases involving underage student violations
of alcohol or other drug policies. By empowering parents to share their thoughts and expectations regarding substance use with their
students, residence life officials are creating
valuable and logical partnerships in addressing college student substance use and abuse.
While parental notification alone will most
assuredly not solve this challenging problem,
employing parents as partners in prevention
efforts is a vital step in the right direction.

Future research should also examine the
students’ perceptions of the parental notification policy. It may be helpful to match
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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1