Parents and children should spend time together even when the children get older, according to a study from Iceland.
Iceland had big problems in the 1990s with youth drunkenness, cannabis and smoking. In 1997, almost half of 16-year-olds (47 percent) in Iceland reported being drunk in the past month.
Work began to reverse this. Some measures were aimed at children. Among other things, they received free gym cards to use in their spare time. Another measure was a broad media campaign for parents to spend more time with their children.The Icelandic president also spoke out about this. The campaign ran for several years.
A research group followed the entire campaign to assess its effects between 1997 and 2014. The results were amazing. Young people's drunkenness decreased from 47 percent to 5 percent. Smoking and cannabis showed almost similar declines. One of the most important things, according to the research team, was that the parents had spent more time with their children. The activity itself was not that important.
Swedish child psychology expert, Kajsa Lönn Rohdin, has pointed out hat it is important to spend more time focusing on your children and not spending so much time on other activities.
The Skellefteå resident who proposed the idea points out that this is good for society as a whole, not just for the individual. It could reduce the cost for patients in outpatient and inpatient care.
The proponent said they were fully aware of all the work that is already being done within the municipality in this area. But the idea is that the municipality should make an investment at community level to raise the profile.