A Content Analysis of Alcohol Industry and Non-industry Underage Drinking Parenting Manuals

Purpose: This oral presentation will compare content and focus of alcohol industry and non-industry “talk to your child about drinking” parenting manuals. Methods: Parenting manuals from Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company were compared to federal government and private health agency manuals (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and a joint project by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council). Independent reviewers read each page from the manuals and coded how frequently alcohol-related problems and potentially sensitive public health perspectives were mentioned. Tabulations were converted in rates of mentions per 1000 words. Results: Beer industry parenting manuals advise parents to “get the facts” but provide substantially fewer reasons why teens should not drink and a significantly lower rate of mentioning most problems compared to non-industry manuals. Beer industry manuals also avoided potentially sensitive public health perspectives on underage alcohol drinking whereas the non-industry produced manuals devoted considerable attention to these items. Conclusions: When the alcohol industry controls the educational agenda, major omissions are made, only select risks are communicated, and the public health dimensions of the problem are avoided.