The influence of parental drinking and closeness on adolescent drinking

Objective: This study examines the relationship of parental drinking and ad olescent's closeness to parents to adolescent drinking behavior by focusing on three related issues: (1) the independent effects of parental drinking and closeness to parents on adolescent drinking, (2) the mediating role of closeness to parents for the effect of parental drinking, and (3) their int eractive effects. Method: The issues were addressed with use of data from 3 78 respondents in a random-digit dialing sample of 625 male adolescents at age range 16 to 19 in the Buffalo area. Mother's and father's drinking and adolescent's closeness to mother and father were measured separately. Regre ssion analyses were used to assess the effects of these measures on adolesc ent drinking regarding the three related issues. Results: Only father's dri nking has a direct effect on adolescent drinking. Although closeness to mot her is a significant protection against adolescent drinking, mother's drink ing has no effect on closeness to mother. In contrast, father's drinking ha s a significant effect on closeness to father, but closeness to father has no direct effect on adolescent drinking. Therefore, there is no mediating r ole of closeness to parents for the effect of parental drinking. Finally, t here is an interaction between mother's drinking and closeness to mother, w hich indicates that adolescents whose mothers are heavy drinkers and who ha ve low closeness to their mothers drink more heavily. Conclusions: Findings suggest that for the mother and the father there are different patterns of the relationship between parental drinking and closeness at work in explai ning adolescent drinking.