While most people will say that marijuana makes them more relaxed and chill, a new study suggests that’s not really the case when it comes to parents. In fact, having a few tokes may make mom and dad way stricter.
A study of 3000 California parents, published in the “Journal of Social Work Practice in the Additions,” finds that pot-smoking parents are more likely to discipline their kids than those who don’t use drugs. In fact, they are more likely than non-smoking parents to use such discipline techniques as timeouts, taking away privileges and even spanking, although the difference is about .5%.
“That is not something we would have expected to see,” lead researcher Dr. Bridget Freisthler, a professor in the College of Social Work at Ohio State University, shares. “They were more likely to use all forms of discipline more often.”
And it’s not just pot. The study finds that alcohol drinkers are also more likely than non drinkers to be helicopter parents and to punish their kids.
One thing the study did not determine? Which came first: smoking pot, or being a parent. “We don’t know sequencing in drug use in parenting,” Freisthler notes. “The question for us is what comes first and how are they related to each other — what can we do to help these people to maybe parent differently and help them cope?”
Source: New York Post