The National Institutes of Health is spending over $30,000 for a study of parents who let their teenagers drink soda.
The grant is supporting a dissertation on SSBs—sugar-sweetened beverages.
The goal of the project is to understand parenting practices that influence "the rampant SSB consumption" in America, according to the researcher.
"Adolescence is an important developmental period to address obesogenic behaviors that often persist into adulthood, particularly sugar sweetened beverage consumption (SSB)," according to the grant awarded to the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
The study aims to fill "gaps in the literature" of how teens feel about the availability of soda in their home or at school.
The researchers claim soda drinking has increased by 300 percent over the past two decades and that teens drink 224 calories per day of sweet drinks.
"There are gaps in the literature of examining multiple levels of influences from the adolescent's perspective particularly among views of access and availability," the grant states. "Understanding factors that influence the rampant SSB consumption among adolescents is important for addressing the obesity and heart disease public health issue."
"The proposed research will explore how multiple levels of influence impact adolescent SSB consumption, specifically assessing the roles of availability in the community environment, household environment, and parental influences," the grant states.
The university received $30,982 for the research late last month. The project will continue until 2019.
Goals of the study include examining whether parents who drink soda are more likely to let their kids drink soda.